Hello friends! welcome to Installer No. 42, 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.)
I also have for you a new minimalist phone, a book to read, a documentary to watch, a fun trick for your Rabbit R1 and much more. Let's get into it.
(As always, the best part of Installer They are your ideas and advice. What are you playing, reading, downloading, buying or binging this week? What do you like that everyone else should like? Tell me everything: [email protected]. And if you know someone else who might enjoy Installertell them to subscribe here.)
The drop
- The light phone 3. The new version of one of the best minimalist phones comes with a better screen, a camera, an NFC chip and big ambitions to replace your phone. I don't think I'm physically capable of getting rid of my smartphone, but I want this so badly.
- Apple passwords. We'll talk a lot more about all of Apple's WWDC announcements as they begin to roll out, but it's worth thinking about this one now: Apple's cross-platform and presumably well-integrated passwords app looks really good. Maybe it's time to start collecting all your passwords and passcodes.
- tied to the moon. Robin Sloan is one of my favorites. writers on the internet, and his previous two books were excellent. This, a profoundly meta-sci-fi epic, seems to be the strangest one yet, and I mean that in a good way.
- How music became free. For people of a certain age, this Paramount Plus documentary will be like reliving some formative years: remember Napster, Kazaa and LimeWire and the way the Internet completely broke the music industry? So many fun stories in this one.
- Dragon House season 2. I confess that I didn't really get into it Dragon House last season, but so many people have told me they're excited about the new one starting this weekend that I feel like I have to catch up to be ready. It seems like everyone is going to be talking about this on Monday.
- “I installed Android on Rabbit R1 and made it useful.” The top comment on this video simply says, “They accidentally made a great dumb phone.” It's a true thing! The R1 is a fun device that runs crappy software; As a small Android tablet, I confess that I love it again. I even pulled mine out of the drawer to try it myself.
- yahoo news. Yahoo bought and shut down Artifact earlier this year. That was sad. This is better: Some of that recommendation technology is back in the new Yahoo News, which has lots of personalization, stripes, badges, and all kinds of good stuff. I'm using Yahoo again! Who would have thought!
- “Inside Disney's 'Area 51', where lightsabers and other technologies are invented.” Lanny Smoot seems like a cool person with a cool job, and this video does a great job of showing all the wild, futuristic things he and Disney are working on for the company's theme parks and other products. Give me that omnidirectional treadmill now.
- ghosts. This is a week old, but like 100 of you recommended it this week, so I'll make an exception. (Thanks to everyone who told me about this!) It's a really unusually structured show, and you definitely can't half-watch it, but I'm digging it so far.
Share screen
Andres Liszewski He has long been one of my favorite bloggers on the Internet. He spent years in Gizmodo writing about the weirdest, funniest, silliest, coolest things on the web, and I've definitely spent thousands of dollars on things just because he wrote about them.
Now, Andrew works for The edge! This was his first week and he's already on Slack causing chaos. Is the best. I asked him to share his home screen with us to see if I could get any tips on how he navigates the web. He didn't reveal all his secrets, but I know more about the weather in Canada now, so that's something.
Here's Andrew's home screen, plus information about what apps he uses and why:
The phone: iPhone 12 Pro (with a battery that feels its age).
The wallpaper: I like a very minimalist wallpaper in my apps, but since I find that solid black makes the screen too reflective, I created a custom subtle blue gradient that I've been using for the past five years. (For my lock screen, I'm using one of instagram.com/mklgustafsson/”>Mikael Gustafsson dreamy nature scenes.)
The applications: Google Calendar, Clock, Photos, Camera, Google Home, Google Photos, Find My, instagram, Google Maps, WeatherCAN, Nest, Google Chat, Settings, Watch, Chrome, Apple Books, 1Password, App Store, Apple Notes, Phone, Gmail , Messages, Apple Photos.
The main home screen on my iPhone is where all my daily driving apps are located. This includes instagram, Google Home, the old Nest app (which includes features for my Nest thermostat that I can't find anywhere else), Chrome, 1Password (which pretty much solved my password anxiety once I finally switched), IMDb, Paprika 3, countless smart home remotes, and most importantly, Environment Canada's weather app to know when to mow the lawn before it rains. I'm obsessed with clearing notifications from my main home screen, but I'm glad they pile up on the second screen, where I like to keep all my other installed apps accessible.
I also asked Andrew to share some things he's interested in right now. This is what he sent:
- I'm a big fan of retro games and recently added the little one Anbernic RG28XX to my ever-growing collection of portable emulators. The Game Boy Micro remains one of my all-time favorite handhelds, but with the RG28XX I can leave all the cartridges at home.
- Our house is slightly obsessed with the reality show. Onlyand we're so excited to dive into the season 11 premiere this week.
- I just finished reading Bill Hammack's book (aka the “Engineer boy“ on YouTube) book, The things we dowhich includes fascinating deep dives into the engineering of everything from medieval cathedrals to how the microwave was invented.
- When I have trouble falling asleep, nothing calms my brain faster than instagram.com/joe_diy”>Joe DIY instagram Account, featuring videos of detailed restorations of classic die-cast toys. Give it a shot. Watching a rusty dump truck turn into a bright yellow Tonka toy is immensely satisfying.
Collective participation
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 me on Signal, @davidpierce.11, with your recommendations for anything, and we'll feature some of our favorites here each week. For more recommendations than I could include here, see the answers to this post in Threads.
“I recently came across this Australian company called Juicy Crumb which specializes in creating custom motherboard replacements for older iMacs, allowing people to easily reuse them as monitors. And they did one for the iMac G4! Believe me when I tell you, I've never hit the “buy” button so quickly (laughs). Anyway, I ordered one a few months ago and recently traded it in for my 20 inch G4, and it worked great! I connected it to an M1 Mac Mini I had and now I'm using an iMac G4 like it's 2004 again.” -Ryan
“I LOVE the Surface stand, I enjoy typing on the screen (I've been doing it for 14 years, by the way), and I hate cases on my Apple devices. I am obsessed with amazon.de/dp/B0BZ43BPZN/ref=pe_27091401_487024491_TE_item”>this magnetic back cover With support for my iPad. I was only able to get it from amazon Germany, but they shipped it to New Zealand for free. Perverse result.” – brendon
“Your mention of Inbox ten Makes me think you'd appreciate Tony Hsieh's. Yesterday's box Method I have used successfully for years! –Deb
“I love writing a diary in Diary, especially since it is completely private and local. If you want to sync between devices, you can use a cloud sync of your choice; It can even sync in read-only mode with apps like Fitbit, instagram, Strava, etc. to add everything you've done during the day to your journal entry. .” – Miguel
“I recently subscribed to Scott Belsky's program. Transcendence newsletter, and I am convinced that everyone who is interested in the future of technology and culture should do so too.” – ricky
“I just discovered the app Croutons for recipe collection, and is by far the best for clearing an actual recipe URL. You can even take a photo of a cookbook page and it will generate the recipe. Probably the best example of using ai in the real world that I have found so far.” –J.T.
“I'm enjoying the new MLB morning lineup podcast. Each episode is 10 minutes or less and recaps scores and news from the previous day. “It’s been a really nice way to catch up on the best sport.” -Mario
“I've been trying Star Wars: Hunters on iOS after its final release. It's a PvP arena combat game and I love it so far. All Hunters are unique and fun, it doesn't require much pay to play and is remarkably good for a quick game. It’s not perfect (the UI is atrocious), but it’s a good start.” – mate
“Puzzmo has just added a new game to its catalog, Accumulated Poker, and it's stellar.” – Luke
“My friends introduced me to this Obligations-Shooting game that is apparently very popular in India. Is called maximum free fire. The reason for its popularity is its ability to run on any device.
You should give it a try. The graphics are mediocre, but the experience is great.” – Rudrajit
Sign off
A few days ago I posted on Threads that my number one productivity trick is to take a 25-minute nap in the middle of the day. This made a lot of people feel feelings and ask questions, even though I'm absolutely right. (It's just science. I don't make the rules.) But for all the people who asked for advice, here are mine.
The perfect 25-minute nap involves three things. First, realize that even if you don't sleep, lying there with your eyes closed for 25 minutes is still very relaxing; Not stressing about sleep makes it easier to fall asleep. Second, an episode of a TV show I've seen before (I watch a lot Parks and Recreation) can make it easier to calm my brain and fall asleep. Third, I put on my smartwatch and set an alarm there; Waking up to a buzzing sound on your wrist is infinitely better than a shrill sound. Naps are great, naps forever, happy naps everyone.
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