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This week, Memex and telepathy and John Lennon’s watch,Looking Presumed innocent and Renaissance Fair, test Genspark Redesigned home screen for AI search Dammingand I tried overnight oats to make my mornings a little less chaotic (I’ve found that peanut butter makes almost everything 20 percent better).
We’ll also be bringing you news on new tech podcasts, cool new gadgets, new calendar apps, fun games to play over the weekend, and much more.
(As usual, installer Your ideas and tips. What are you obsessed with right now? What great app, book, podcast, show, game, recipe, etc. have you discovered recently and are loving it? Tell us all at installer@theverge.com. And if you know anyone else who might enjoy it, installertell them to register here.
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- Asus VivoBook S 15. The Copilot Plus PC is here. It’s been a strange journey, with all the mess and recalls, but we’re starting to get a glimpse into what a new era of Qualcomm-powered Windows devices might look like. So far, I’m pretty optimisticBut it remains to be seen how the new Surface will pan out.
- Elden Ring: Shadow of the Eld Tree. The overall vibe of this massive new DLC is basically “Elden Ring, but even more awesome,” and considering how deep and massive the game is already, and how many hours we’ve already put into it, that’s pretty much everything you could hope for.
- Angering Cancer. If all of Dropout Presents’ stand-up specials are as fun as this one with Hank Green, we’re in for some great new comedy shows. Green is as funny and goofy as ever here, and so is Hank Green. This is an hour you won’t regret.
- About Xreal Beam Pro. This is a really fun and unique idea for how smart glasses should work. Rather than putting everything on the glasses themselves, Xreal has packed all the functionality and software into a separate, relatively inexpensive, smartphone-style device. I’m excited to test this out.
- It backfired: The e-cigarette wars. The Juul saga may forever be remembered as one of Silicon Valley’s strangest events, and this podcast takes a deep dive into it, discussing society’s confusing debate about vaping, the government’s struggle to catch up, and what’s next.
- Arc for iPad. It’s still my favorite browser, and it’s finally available on almost all devices (when is Android coming, Arc?!?!) The app isn’t optimized for the iPad, it’s missing some keyboard shortcuts, and it’s just a scaled-up version of the iPhone app, but it syncs and works well, and I’d definitely buy it.
- Amie for Windows. It’s a big week for cross-platform apps. Amie is one of my favorite calendar/to-do apps and has been significantly polished over the past few months. If you’re looking for an all-in-one productivity-focused app with an attractive design, you should definitely give it a try.
- Logitech Keys-to-Go 2. I’ve been carrying the original Keys-To-Go in my bag for a few years now – it’s super light and convenient for running quick errands with my phone or iPad. This seems like a great upgrade – it’s still light and small, and has a better set of keys. $80 is a lot, but I think I’ll end up buying it.
- A sense of rebellion. An incredibly well-produced and deeply reported podcast about decades-old thinking on AI and how we use and live with technology. This story of hippies and capitalists, governments and big corporations is like the story of technology wrapped up in 10 episodes. I’m loving it so far.
- Clip Pad. Clipboard history is nice and convenient, but having a place to store all the text you type frequently, like shipping addresses, email replies, and important links, is life-changing. Replace text The Personal Dictionary feature (iOS and Android respectively) does a lot of that, and apps like Snippetti Although quite powerful, this new feature is also pretty fun to use.
Screen sharing
I think Nick Cua He’s introduced me to more great podcasts than anyone else on the planet. Hot Pod Or his 1.5x faster Read the Newsletter Vulture (The VergeAccording to Vox Media, a sister site of the Weekly Shonen Jump, he listens to all the shows all the time. In fact, this week, he How chat podcasts became popular And some New Radio Big Name.
I asked Nick to show me his home screen because a) I wanted to know what podcast app he uses, and b) I was hoping he’d recommend a new show or two. Both of my wishes came true! Below is Nick’s home screen, along with a little bit about which apps he uses and why:
phone: I recently upgraded from my trusty old iPhone 12 to an iPhone 15. So far, it seems to be working well. I no longer have to worry about running out of battery on long flights.
wallpaper: My beautiful son, Siobhan (aka Shoobie).
App: Calendar, Photos, Clock, Weather, Google Maps, To Do, Google Calendar, Gmail, Spotify, TikTok, Instagram, Steam, Delta, Strava, Discord, Slack, Stocks, LastPass, Messages, Phone, Firefox, Pocket Casts.
Okay, so as you can see, I’m pretty average for the most part. All of the apps I have easy access to are ones I use every day with some degree of frequency. Google Maps for navigation (and snooping). To Do for organizing my thoughts. TikTok and Instagram for toilet stuff. I’ve been gaming a lot lately, so I’m constantly trawling Steam for deals. I’ve somehow fallen in love with running, so I use Strava too. I also frequent Delta to work through my backlog of old JRPGs. And of course, Pocket Casts is my go-to for listening to podcasts.
I also asked Nick what he’s currently interested in. Here’s what he answered:
- I am the type of person who watches it over and over again, and for some reason I end up watching it over and over again every summer. Stop and Fire This is the sixth time. Oh, that show is so cool. It’s the 10th anniversary.
- At the moment, it seems I like Chapel Roan just as much as the rest of the universe. “Red wine supernova” very good.
- Slowly moving forward Season of the Witch: Enchantment, Fear, and Liberation in the City of LoveDavid Talbot’s 2013 history of San Francisco, which I think is very remarkable.
- Follow the episodes of My perfect consoleSimon Parkin’s excellent interview, “Desert Island Discs for Video Games,” shows how it also doubles as a fun historical record of the medium.
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 recommendations you might have. We’ll feature some of our favorites here every week. Want more recommendations that don’t fit here? This post in the thread.
“This little camera“It’s so cute and the photos are so amazing, I had to think of ways to justify it.” – Dalton
“check out Ibid.This is a Nostr server that exposes the Mastodon API to clients. This means that you can use any of the very good Mastodon apps (Ivory, Ice Cubes) to add a Nostr connection directly. It’s like an additional server in the same app where your main Mastodon account is.” – Adnan
“I’m slowly starting to follow the Pokémon trading cards again. Bulba Store It’s really interesting to see the seller’s perspective on YouTube and the current prices of the cards!” – Peter
“The Hawthorne and Horowitz Mystery Written by Anthony Horowitz. The fifth book in the series was recently released. Approaching Death“The titles all feature some heavy puns (in this case, “close” means enclosed in Britain), and the book is metafiction, with Horowitz as the protagonist telling us how he’s writing the series of murder mysteries that you’re reading. Still, it’s one of the best modern murder mysteries I’ve read, and does a great job of paying homage to Agatha Christie while also playing with the genre.” — Kendrick
“I play and watch chess! Chess is cool right now! There are so many ways to play it, Chess.com It’s great for beginners, and there’s a lot of great chess content on YouTube. Eric Rosen, Irina Kurush, Levi Rozmanand Nakamura HikaruI hope to improve so that one day my 3-year-old niece can become a master.” – Ryan
“I’m really enjoying it.”Jet Lag: Games” on YouTube. Imagine that. Great race, But it’s actually good and not scripted. The hosts are likeable and the game has a certain amount of complexity to it. It’s been a nail-biting end to the Australian season.” – Dev
“What I’m reading now is Helldivers II: Ghost By Nicholas Sansbury Smith. Post-apocalyptic sci-fi about a halo jumper who ventures into a radioactive wasteland to scavenge supplies from mutant monsters. It certainly lives up to its name.” – Jesse
“I am new Clyde Clockis a digital take on the classic analogue watch. It features changing, artist-curated faces and can tick or chime on demand. And best of all, it has no other functions and isn’t connected to any app or phone. It’s the epitome of minimalism and elegance.” – Jonathan
“I truly believe that a home server or NAS is useful and easily accessible to more people than those who currently have one. More people should have their own server. Plex Server, Pie Hole, Self-hosted cloud storage, Mine Craft serveror Self-Hosted VPNIf you want to keep it simple, all you need is an old PC. If you don’t mind learning how to use Linux, you can also use an old Android phone or a cheap Raspberry Pi clone.” – Voltaire
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As I’ve said before, I never tire of watching, listening to, or reading about people who are great at what they do, doing it their own way. (Musician Kygo: Making of Video This is the first example that comes to mind in this genre. One of my favorite examples these days. This video isZane Lowe interviews Finneas and Billie Eilish about the making of Eilish’s latest album. They talk about the process, fear, mics, editing, and more. I’m never going to make an album, shoot a movie, or make it in the NBA, but I never get tired of hearing people talk about how they make it happen.