Bluesky is the hottest new thing on social networks

Hello friends! welcome to Installer No. 25, your guide to the best and Edge-The most important things in the world. (If you're new here, welcome, I'm excited to have found us, and you can also read all the old editions in the Installer Homepage.)

This week I have been watching Mr and Mrs Smith (which is amazing) and for argy (which is not), reading about The war between technology and media, ai-neural-networks-churns-out-fake-ids-onlyfake/”>Fake IDs created by aiand multi-million dollar arenasdebating tech/personal-tech/is-the-139-amazon-prime-subscription-still-worth-it-83a597c7″>canceling Amazon Primeand testing Croutons to manage recipes and shopping lists.

I also have for you Google's new artificial intelligence tools, a new social network, a better version of Google Docs, a new weather app worth trying, and much more. Let's delve into.

(As always, the best part of Installer They are your ideas and advice. What are you up to now? What should everyone else be up to right now? Tell me everything: [email protected]. And if you know someone else who might enjoy InstallerForward them and tell them to subscribe here).

• Blue sky. The cool social media kids club is now open to everyone! And as every site should do, it quickly collapsed in many big, fun ways as people poured in. It's still a pretty new service, but it has a lot of really smart ideas about social media. I love the way it handles. custom feeds and usernames in particular.
• Google Gemini. Good news: Google heard your complaints that Installer has too many exclusive apps for iOS and launched the new Gemini app exclusively on Android. (In your face, iOS.) Google's ai chatbot also got a new name this week, and Google also released its new and supposedly much more powerful model, Gemini Ultra, to the public.
• “Why do 'iPhone filmed' commercials look so good?“ This video moves so fast that I had to check my settings to make sure I wasn't accidentally on 2x. But it's a great look at the state of photography equipment, a fun interview with an accomplished filmmaker, and a life lesson: understanding tools is more important than getting “better” tools. Deep!
• The Ring Pro Battery Doorbell. It's not the cheapest Ring doorbell out there or the most powerful, but it looks like the Goldilocks model: more accurate sensors, all the features you want, and very easy to install. However, I agree with my colleague Jennifer Pattison Tuohy: Ring's basic look needs a redesign.
• Craft. Craft is basically what Google Docs would be, if someone at Google cared about making Google Docs nice to use. And this lovely little note-taking app just added a bunch of really cool collaboration features, making it even more useful. Craft is still a little complicated for my taste, but it's a very well-made app.
• iCloud for Windows. Great week for Windows users who own an iPhone! The iCloud app got a big update, Apple Music and Apple TV are no longer in “preview” mode, and everything will work better. And the best news? Basically, you never have to use iTunes again.
• Tokyo Vice President. This is such an underrated show. I didn't really understand it at first, but it has this intense, relentless energy that kept me hooked. Critics seem to think Season 2 is even bigger and better, and I'm excited to dive back into it.
• The Weather Channel App. You know I love weather apps, and the new one from TWC is a big improvement: it's much more attractive, has lots of alerts and customization (I'm really worried about the UV index these days, not so much about air quality), and some nice apps. news integration. Only for iOS for now though and I still hate the icon. I have to fix that icon.
• Physical media strikes back with Tim Simons. From the very good podcast The panorama, is nearly 90 minutes of talk about Blu-ray organization, box tips, what it means to own a movie, the changing entertainment industry, and much more. As a proud owner of exactly zero DVDs, this made me want to start a collection.
• MGIE. Lest you think that Apple is being left out of the generative ai revolution, here's something interesting: a model designed to make image edits just by describing them. “More blues!” “Move that thing over there!” “Make my face less bad!” It's not a real product yet, but it's a really cool idea.

This is the 25th edition of Installer! It's our silver anniversary. In this newsletter you can now rent a car. Coming soon, Installer your quarter-life crisis will begin.

First of all, thank you to everyone who read, subscribed, and recommended material for these first 25 issues! This has been a lot of fun and the InstallerThe verse community has decimated my phone storage and increased my screen time in the best way possible.

Second, it's time to do something I plan to do every 25 issues, which is share my own home screen! As Installer'As head of novelty testing, I'm constantly experimenting with new apps, new widgets, and new ways to use technology. So I think I should share how I'm doing from time to time.

So here is my home screen, as it looks now:

The phone: iPhone 15 Pro.

The wallpaper: A photo of my wife and son on the lock screen, the same blurry image on the home screen. For some reason, having two different images seems aesthetically strange to me, but I also don't like having a super visible wallpaper that obscures all the icons. So this basically works.

The applications: Google Maps, Day One, Weller, Readwise Reader, Unread, Couch, Phone, Spotify, Pocket Casts, Camera.

My base has the four categories of apps I use most, but the apps in it change depending on what I'm trying out or pretending will improve my life. Right now, the messaging app is only Apple Messagesnotes app is Note planthe calendar is Minical (which I just discovered this week thanks to christopher lawley), and the browser is Bow Search.

I'm using a Ruffsnap icon pack, which I like above all! It doesn't cover all the apps I use, so I had to reuse some icons in other apps; You'll notice it's not the Day One icon, for example. But I like the custom icons because they look nice and also because these Shortcuts markers can't have badges. The only apps that are allowed to have badges are social, chat, and email apps in the Communications folder. (The content is news apps, games, that kind of thing.)

This has been my home screen vibe for a few weeks now and it's working pretty well! But I'm already looking for a better calendar widget (why does everyone make such ugly calendar widgets?!), and I'm already looking longingly at another notes app. Please send help.

This is what Installer the community is in this week. I want to know what you're up to now too! Email [email protected] or message +1 203-570-8663 with your recommendations for anything, and we'll feature some of our favorites here each week.

“If you are looking for a display that can display your calendar, I urge you to take a look at DAK board. More than a calendar, many different things and cheaper: monitor and Raspberry Pi for less than $150. And it's worth the five dollars a month: it's fun to build and integrates with many other services.” -Doug

“Skylight it's amazing. For my mom. Because it's simple. For yourself, get the largest 720p TV or monitor you can for your space, a Raspberry Pi, and use the DAK board project. It will change your life.” – Jeremy (Two DAKboard recommendations! Guess what I'm doing this weekend…)

“griselda! Like any other anti-drug program I have seen, but the fact that they are all Colombians and speak in Spanish gives me a lot.” -Emma

“I'm late, but it's worth mentioning in the 'how I get my news' topic: WhatsApp channels! I discovered this feature about two months ago and have used it daily since. I follow certain channels that I like (NOW, WSJ, sports-themed, even celebrities, etc.) and their main stories reach the WhatsApp channel that I catch up on as if it were a group chat with my friends.” -Santiago

“I don't know if this counts, but my friends and I are playing Starcraft II again. He has a cooperative and we just realized.” – For rest

“Radiant is a really nice and customizable Mastodon client for iOS. It is free to use but also has a reasonable update. AND Moose It’s also a great Twitter-like web app for Mastodon.” -Harvey

“There is a series of apps called 'not boring.' A set of applications that look absolutely beautiful, with wonderful graphics and an incredible touch feel. I especially love the Climate application because playing with the icons is incredible.” – Arjun

“I received the Analog Weekly Ugmonk planner for Christmas, and I've been using it a lot along with a field notes notebook. I take meeting notes in Field Notes and put key weekly tasks/deadlines in the analog weekly planner.” –J

“I've been using a free iOS app called ScreenZen to regain control over my phone usage. Crucially, instead of simply telling you about your usage at the end of the day, it helps you eliminate the compulsion by setting up a countdown screen before opening an app. Other app blockers do this, but what's special here is what they call Pause Groups, so you can set different rules for different apps, websites, categories, etc. Combine these Pause Groups with Focus Modes and Shortcuts, and you've got some pretty powerful stuff. .” –Zack

“What about the libby application? I’ve been using it since 2017. It’s free, you only need a library card to use it, and I love it for the audiobooks it has.” – Pooja

The Super Bowl is this weekend, which means that about a hundred million Americans and I will be camped out in front of the TV for about 14 consecutive hours on Sunday. Here's a tip: As always, most of the best Super Bowl ads are already online. so you can read them now and then use the game's commercial time for things like naps and drink refills.

And here's a fun game: when you see the ads, try to figure out which one get a celebrity sued like all those crypto announcements did a couple of years ago. Who will go to court over an ai announcement this year? I have some guesses.