Hello friends! Welcome installer No.45, the best guide VergeThe most amazing thing in the world. (If you’re new here, welcome. Sorry, I love productivity apps. Also, all the old versions are installer home page.
I’m back from a few days off, rested, tanned, and ready to get back to work. Thank you to everyone who sent me birthday wishes! This week, Made for love And the story AI Gamer and AI Musician and Ferrari’s electric car,Looking turning pointWeather app Relaxed Weather, Ira Glass is furious Listen to podcasts at 2x speedAnd let all my feelings out Dot AI bots.
We also have a new phone, a new smart ring, a reunion of old and new podcasts, a sci-fi show that everyone loves, a great update to a great recipe app, and a new AI pod to look out for. There’s a lot going on in mid-July. Let’s dive right in.
(As usual, installer Your ideas and tips. What are you obsessed with right now? What should others read, watch, play, eat, download, or save for winter? Tell us all: installer@theverge.comIf anyone else enjoys it installerPlease tell them Subscribe here.
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- About CMF Phone 1. A great-looking, long-lasting Android phone for $200? With an OLED screen, a swappable backplate, and a bunch of really cool accessories, including a kickstand? Yes, please. In orange, of course.
- samsung galaxy ring. I’m a fan of Samsung’s flip and clamshell phones. The new models are Very similar and even more expensiveBut the one I’m most excited about is the Galaxy Ring. Nailed the smart ring hardware — There are some interesting ideas for gesture control as well.
- “Dignation Reunion Part 1.” If you’re a techie of a certain age, there’s a good chance you grew up watching Kevin Rose and Alex Albrecht joking about technology while sitting on a couch drinking, so seeing them together again is a nostalgic memory. And There is a part 2too!
- Delta 1.6. Delta game emulation comes to iPad! I play most of my retro games on my iPhone with a Backbone controller, so I’m not sure how much I’ll actually use this, but this update seems pretty awesome with the bigger screen and the ability to play multiple games at once.
- Amazon’s new Echo Spot. For me, this is The exact balance of things As an Alexa speaker. It’s small, $45 (for now), has a touchscreen but no camera, and is the perfect size for a bedside table. I’ve been promising myself not to keep my phone in the bedroom, so this might just do it instead.
- sunny. A widowed woman gets a robot from her husband’s tech company to help her overcome her difficulties. Strange developments ensue. Great premise! And In every respectThe show continues Apple TV Plus’ fantastic sci-fi series, so be sure to catch up before episode three drops on Wednesday.
- Open Vibe. Bluesky, Mastodon, Threads, and Nostr are all combined into one timeline in one app. It’s basically a neat hack, and while it’s not the interconnected social universe I dream of, it’s a pretty good hack. I also like that it basically hides what networks you’re on; the timeline just shows you people.
- pestle. I love a good recipe app. I mainly use Crouton and Mela, but the new features of Pestle Import recipes from Instagram Reels is amazing. Just paste the link, give it a name, and you’ll have a video with lots of ingredients and instructions.
Screen sharing
A million years ago, I was an intern. Wired, One of the stories I helped with was a bizarre one about a writer who had completely disappeared and was trying to see if he could be found on the internet. The story turned out great, and the writer was Evan Ratliff, who has been one of my favorite journalists ever since. He Atavist magazine A lot of great work there, great Persona She was one of the co-hosts of the podcast, and until recently Long Forma journalism podcast I’d always dreamed I might be invited to one day. Shame on me.
Evan has released a new podcast. Shell Game, He uses an AI clone of himself to create all kinds of chaos in his life. wonderful, And I’m excited to see what happens next. I asked Evan to show me his home screen to see if there are any podcasting tips I can steal from him and how his life is becoming more AI-enabled.
Below is Evan’s home screen with some information about the apps he uses and why.
phone: iPhone 13 mini.
wallpaper: What I’m sending you here is my cat Henry, an 18-year-old icon and once a bit of a celebrity on Vine, the cutest creature on the planet. (Usually it’s my kids, but I don’t allow their photos to be published on the internet.)
App: Google Maps, Photos, Apple Notes, Slack, Settings, Clock, Phone, WhatsApp, Signal, Freedom, Google Translate, CloudBeats, Scrivener, Instapaper, Spotify, TuneIn, Libby, Gmail, Google Calendar, Messages, Brave.
My home screen rules are no social media and no news. I’m a certified news junkie, but I like to be at least a little bit out of sight. I also never have the Twitter app on my phone. Here are some apps I like:
- Kids [group]Something no one tells you about parenting in the 2020s is how many school, camp and bus apps you have to get and check.
- Ship/Plane: This is the only AR app I’ve ever used. Just point and you’ll feel like a wizard. Flightradar24 Sky Marine Traffic Going to sea and seeing where ships and planes come from and where they go. My father studied logistics and got me interested in how things get from one place to another.
- Cloudbeats: A must for listening to podcast drafts while running or walking. Shell Game During production, this can take up to several hours a day.
- Libby: Any New Yorker who doesn’t have this is missing out. You can get the e-book or audiobook from your library and listen here.
- Instapaper: Does anyone else still use Instapaper? I don’t even know who owns it anymore, but I still use it as a way to read long articles that I’ve saved.
We also asked Evan to share some of the things he’s interested in right now. Here’s what he told us:
- Moss. This year I created a moss garden. I love anything to do with moss. I want to know how to care for it, the amazing properties of moss, and meet moss experts (e.g. Mossin Annie). Moss!
- new Charlie Crockett AlbumA truly brilliant songwriter and singer with a great story to tell, perfect for listening to whilst walking on moss (as you should).
- Currently revisiting Braindead MegaphoneA collection of essays by George Saunders. Shell Game– Relevant to me.
- My sister-in-law, who is 50 times more culturally savvy than I am, introduced us to this British comedy game show. TaskmasterThe perfect way to unwind after a day of working alongside your AI doppelganger.
Crowdsourcing
This is installer Let us know what the community is obsessed with this week. We want to know what you’re obsessed with! Email installer@theverge.com Or send us a message on Signal (@davidpierce.11) with any of your recommendations. Every week we’ll feature some of our favorites here. For even more great recommendations, This post in the thread.
“I just wanted to introduce an app that not many people know about (and that is shocking to me): A sleek inboxThe idea is very simple: you can create a dedicated inbox for newsletters. I hate reading newsletters in my personal Gmail inbox, so this is a very convenient solution to my problem.” – Denis
“I binge-watched all six episodes of Netflix. SupercellIt’s like Hero “But it’s darker, set in South London, with an almost entirely black cast and produced by Rapman. It’s one of the best films I’ve seen this year, and a refreshing change of pace in a genre dominated by Marvel.” – Guilherme
“Currently reading The singularity is approaching Ray Kurzweil. We are blessed to be able to watch human evolution in real time. – Matthew
“Best Ball Draft Underdog Fantasy“What was once a niche version of fantasy football has now become a (ridiculously?) popular form of sports betting in which players draft an entire team in under an hour and then compete against strangers. It’s like trying to win a March Madness bracket, but for drafting a fantasy football roster.” – Noah
” VR Exercise Tracker It’s an app created by the VR Health Institute. It helps measure your VR workouts using scientifically-backed methods for measuring VR activity. It connects with your Apple Watch and other Bluetooth fitness devices.” – Dan
“As a new dad, Dungeons and Daddies This podcast has a special meaning to me and it has an interesting (non-self-proclaimed BDSM) twist. Dungeons & Dragonswhich follows four fathers as they navigate a fantastical world to rescue their lost sons. It made me laugh hard and cry more than I’ve ever laughed in a long time. I’ve already watched season 1 three times (over 180 hours of listening time) and am currently re-listening to season 2.” – Mark
“I just bought Boksgården 10.3 I bought an E Ink tablet and I really like it. It’s very slim, has a nice design, and has no frontlight, so it’s pretty convenient for writing when you need to. It’s designed as a rival to the Remarkable 2 (i.e. as a note-taking device), but I use it to read articles via Omnivore.” – Patrick
“recently, Deep Work “The Benefits of Minimizing Distractions and Taking Time to Improve Your Focus” by Cal Newport. Over the last few years, my ability to concentrate has declined, along with that of many others, so I picked up this book to try and improve my focus.” – Dave
“Apple Pen Lite: iPad and earlier iPads“I’ve been watching Colin Holter’s channel for a few years now and really love his work, but this video is really out of the ordinary for him. He interviews a few ex-Apple people and I thought it was really well done. I was really young when this video was featured so I don’t remember any news about it, but it was really interesting to hear this perspective from engineers and product managers who worked at Apple at the time.” – Ian
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I truly believe thatEvery frame is a painting” is the best YouTube series of all time. If you haven’t seen them all yet, you should watch them all. (If you’ve only seen one, Anything about Edgar Wright. or This is David Fincher’sor this Marvel movie soundtrack(Watch the whole thing!) When the channel released its first video in seven years, Short trailer New limited series and short films started so I immediately started refreshing the page every 10 minutes and rewatching everything on the channel from the beginning again. It was like going to film school at lightning speed and I highly recommend it. ChairEveryone! Chairs!
