Hi, friends! Welcome to Installer No. 86, your guide to the best and Verge-iest stuff in the world. (If you’re new here, welcome, hope you’ve cleared your schedule for some Karting this weekend, and also you can read all the old editions at the Installer homepage.)
This week, I’ve been reading about privacy experts and spreadsheets and Dropout, watching Stick for fun and Mike and Molly for a wedding toast (long story), learning some sweet new Raycast tricks, talking into my phone with Wispr Flow, replaying Jon Bellion’s new album, holding space for the next Wicked movie, and seeing if maybe the solution to my to-do list chaos is just a piece of paper. So far, it’s working, and I hate it.
I also have for you a delightful new way to take pictures on your iPhone, the big new title for the Switch 2, a long interview with a Microsoft CEO, a fun way to soundtrack your pool parties, and much more. It’s going to be a game-filled next few weeks, friends. Let’s do it.
(As always, the best part of Installer is your ideas and tips. What do you want to want to know more about? What are you playing / watching / reading / listening to / plugging into your TV this week? Tell me everything: [email protected]. And if you know someone else who might enjoy Installer, tell them to subscribe here. If you subscribe via email, you’ll get Installer a full day early, and right in your inbox!)
- !Camera. Andy Allen designs some of the best-looking apps you’ll find for Apple platforms, and he has outdone himself with this very playful, tactile take on a camera app. It takes a minute to learn what all the on-screen buttons and wheels do, but it’s so much more fun than the iPhone’s default app that I’ve been using almost all the time.
- Mario Kart World. We’ll talk some more about the Switch 2 launch in the next section, but the console’s big launch title is also the latest edition of my favorite racing game of all time. I haven’t played a ton of the open-world online stuff yet, but, if nothing else, this is clearly the biggest Kart ever.
- Good Night, and Good Luck. First, George Clooney made a terrific movie. Then, he turned it into a record-breaking Broadway show. Now, it’s being filmed, live, on CNN on Saturday night. I love this kind of thing, and I always wondered why we didn’t get more of it after Hamilton was such a smash. I’m excited to see the play but also just how this broadcast gets made.
- The Steve Ballmer interview. From the Acquired podcast, this is three hours of Microsoft history, business leadership tips, and a whole deep dive into the “developers developers developers” speech. Ballmer’s always a good interview, and there is a ton here.
- The Razer Phantom Collection. I’m really not an “all of the RGB lights” kind of guy, but there’s something about this translucent, glowing keyboard and mousepad that really does work for me. (Also, I just learned this week that Razer launched Synapse for Mac, meaning you can finally get all its best power-user features on Apple products, too!)
- Poolsuite. Big update this week to one of the internet’s best sources of chill vibes and great summer music — including, for the first time, an Android app! This is one of the few apps I can just turn on and let play all day. The vibes are immaculate.
- Ballerina. I try not to get my hopes up about John Wick spinoffs. (Though I think The Continental at least had some potential.) The reviews on this one, and on Ana de Armas, are a bit mixed. But I like the premise a lot, and this feels guaranteed to be a good time in a theater.
- “Ensh*ttification, Live!” Cory Doctorow has been more right about the state of the internet than anyone these last few years, and this interview from the PBS Ideas Festival is a really smart catch-up about how we got enshittified, what it looks like right now, and where we go from here. I cannot wait for Doctorow’s book this fall.
Did you get a Switch 2 this week? If you tried to, I hope it worked out! I had a shockingly easy time: I debated waiting in line on Wednesday night, but I ended up being able to just walk into a Target on Thursday morning and get one. Lots more to come, but so far I’m a fan. The screen looks great, it’s big without being too big, and mostly it is just so much faster than the original model. Is $450 a steep price for that, though? Oh boy, you betcha.
In case you got a new console and are looking for something to play this weekend, I asked my colleague Andrew Webster to name a few games he thought might be worth your time. Here’s what he came back with:
“Everyone who buys a Switch 2 is going to be playing the same thing: Mario Kart World. And I can’t really blame them, everyone loves Mario Kart, and this looks like a worthy successor to MK8 (which I once called the ‘best Mario Kart ever’). However, there are a couple of other very intriguing releases at launch:
- Nintendo Switch 2 Welcome Tour: yeah, it’s pretty weird you have to pay $10 for this, since it seems like the ideal pack-in game, but it’s also only $10 and looks like the best way to learn about all the new elements of the Switch 2 in a playful, Nintendo way.
- Survival Kids: a surprising return of a Game Boy cult classic (which just got a rerelease for Switch Online subscribers). The most interesting part of Survival Kids is that it’s a good test case for the new GameChat functionality. You can play the survival game with three other people, and you only need one copy of the game for multiplayer.
- F-Zero GX: speaking of Switch Online, one of the perks for Switch 2 owners is the addition of some GameCube classics. And I know that as soon as I can I’m dusting off that virtual copy of F-Zero GX and racing those futuristic streets.”
If you fire up a Switch 2 this weekend, let me know what you end up playing and liking! This summer is going to be filled with great game drops, and we’ll cover as many as we can.
Hayden Field started at The Verge this week as our new senior AI reporter. This is the second time I’ve gotten to work with Hayden, and, in short, Hayden rules. Her job here is a very fun and very tough one: she has to figure out what in the world is going on with the AI industry and whether any of it actually matters. In every definition of the word “matters.” Super chill times in Hayden-land!
I asked Hayden to share her homescreen with us while she’s still new here. I was sort of hoping she’d be like, “Sorry, no homescreen, I only use my Rabbit R1,” but alas, she still has a phone. Here it is, plus some info on the apps she uses and why:
The phone: A blue iPhone 13 Pro Max.
The wallpaper: A tree-lined street in Brooklyn at its *PEAK* beauty.
The apps: Google Calendar, Weather, X, Instagram, Camera, Google Photos, Photos, Google Maps, NYT Cooking, Skratch, NYT Games, West, Gmail, Slack, Apple Notes, Signal, Phone, Messages, Safari, Spotify.
First of all, I promise I never have this many unread messages — it’s a lot of congratulatory texts for starting at The Verge!
Otherwise, I’m an iPhone girl with a penchant for Google apps (big Google Maps, Google Photos, and Gmail fan). My two aspirational apps are NYT Cooking and NYT Games: I use and love them, but I’m way less skilled at both things than I wish I were.
Skratch is my way of keeping track of the number of countries I’ve traveled to (my dream is to visit every country in the world). And West is for disposable-camera-looking photos when I don’t have a real camera around.
I also asked Hayden to share a few things that she’s into right now. Here’s what she sent back:
- I’m catching up on The Witcher right now, and I’m addicted; on the opposite side of things, I’ve been rewatching Gossip Girl and gearing up to catch up on The Rehearsal next.
- Game-wise, I’ve been really into this board game called Everdell, and I live near one of NYC’s best board game stores (Twenty Sided Store).
- When it comes to apps, I have to give a shoutout to Furbo; it’s what I use to keep an eye on my corgi pup, Jelly, when I’m not at home.
- As for weird stuff on the internet that’s been following me around my algorithm: quirky hand-tufted wool rugs (like Hannah Via’s stuff — she makes little rugs that look like shells, oysters, tomatoes, fish, you name it).
Here’s what the Installer community is into this week. I want to know what you’re into right now, as well! Email [email protected] 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 even more great recommendations, check out the replies to this post on Threads and this post on Bluesky.
“I’ve recently fallen back into Fallout 4. Maybe it’s the yearning for a new Fallout title, or just that this game has INSANE replayability.” — Rob
“Just bought a Philips Hue Light Strip and love how this little light addition lets you set a whole new mood in your rooms — without being visible like a lamp.” — Florian
“Check out the Flesh and Blood trading card game, super competitive and addicting. Way better than Magic the Gathering in my eyes. It’s also the US national championship this weekend.” — Thore
“I switched my browser from Arc to Zen due to Arc no longer being supported by The Browser Company. Zen is turning out to be an almost perfect open-sourced version of Arc, so far I am happy!” — Craig
“Dig Dig Dino! is for me the killer app of the Playdate console. Until I played it, I wasn’t sure buying the gadget was a good choice. Perfect game for short bursts of play time, but also can (and does) suck you in with a fun gameplay loop for longer sessions.” — Rafal
“I have been trying and failing to find another website to visit the way I do The Verge, and I think I’ve found it: Hodinkee. It’s a website about high-end watches, and a good website. I can’t recommend it enough.” — Vishal
“Need a podcast? I like learning how songs are made on One Song.” — Ryan
“I love watching the channel More Perfect Union on YouTube. They recently made a really informative video about driverless semis driving down I-45 here in Texas, and I really think more people should watch it! This is a highly utilized interstate, and I definitely think this will cause a lot of issues down the line if we’re not careful.” — Kerzell
“The game Skin Deep by Blendo Games is phenomenal. It’s like if Hitman had a less punishing game loop and was deeply silly. There are cats to rescue (also the cats are spaceship crew)!” — Hunter
Sorry, one more Switch 2 thing before we go: I went through the whole transfer process from the old Switch to the new one, and it was as annoying as it always is, but it ultimately worked fine. The only thing that didn’t eventually transfer was my 8BitDo controller, which just… didn’t connect. Luckily, on Friday, 8BitDo did update the firmware for some of its controllers and says more are coming.
But in the interim, I made the mistake of looking for an upgrade. I asked my colleagues which controller I should buy, or if I should wait for all the new accessories to come out. They all said the same thing: just buy the Nintendo Pro Controller, it’s the best one, it’s not even close. This is good advice! There’s just one problem: it costs EIGHTY FIVE DOLLARS. I assume I will eventually just give in and overpay for this thing, but if you have a controller you like better, I want to know about it! Please, someone who is good at the economy help me budget this.
