Fallout Might Be the Best Video Game TV Show of All Time

Hello friends! welcome to Installer No. 34, 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 great new video game show, a new e-book reader worth checking out, yet another document about how bad technology is, a cool new drone, and much more.

I also have a question, one that I can't believe I haven't asked yet: What do you use ai for? Are you using Copilot to write all your emails? Cooking with the help of ChatGPT? Check all your thoughts with some app I've never heard of? You don't get anything from the ai ​​at all? I want to know the apps and platforms you are using and how you are using them. I'm obsessed with trying to figure out what ai really is. forand I want to hear all your thoughts.

Okay, there's a lot to do this week and I have a plane to catch. (If you're in Chicago, come see me speak aiand come say hello!) Let's go.

(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], or contact me on Signal. Am @davidpierce.11. And if you know someone else who might enjoy Installerand tell them to subscribe here).

• Fall. First The last of usso Super Mario Bros., now this! Suddenly we have a lot of options to choose from among excellent video game adaptations. It's post-apocalyptic, it's epic, and it's apparently pretty fun? The reviews are fantastic. I'll be watching this on the plane to and from Chicago this weekend. I can not wait.
• The DJI Open 2. There are two types of drones: camera drones and flying drones. This is a wheel: a first-person experience through glasses that last longer and move better than its predecessor. I need to try one of these.
• Find my device on Android. It took Google a while to get it right, but device tracking is a great feature, and it looks like Google will be much more open with the network than Apple was with Find My. It's also smart to use Nest devices to tell you where you left your keys in the house.
• The antisocial network: memes for chaos. Most of these harrowing Netflix docs about how bad the Internet is: The big trick, The social dilemma, that kind of thing, is simplistic and frustrating to watch. This 4chan document has a bit of the same problem, but it's smart and deep enough to teach you a few things about the web.
• Frame.io Version 4. If you do anything with video, especially with other people, this is a big update: Frame.io this week got much better search, more organization tools, and custom metadata to keep track of things better. And now everything is much better on mobile.
• Kobo Clear Color. Color e-book readers! I love that Kobo exists as a check and competitor to the Kindle, even though I'm stuck in the amazon ecosystem right now. This is the latest and greatest in e-ink, and for $150, the faster and better Clara seems like a good deal.
• “This invention made Disney MILLIONS, but then THEY LOST IT!” The Sodium Vapor Process is both an incredibly interesting story about film history and a cool-sounding name for a pop punk band. Funny video about a funny invention and why a much worse product ended up winning.
• shop.fairphone.com/fairbuds”>Fairphone Fairbuds. Repairable headphones are a big win. Because, you know, the environment, waste and stuff, but also because you can replace the battery when it runs out! As someone who keeps replacing AirPods because they only last an hour after a while, this is a big win. They also look very good.
• Strut. This is a In fact An attractive app for anyone who writes a lot. It's part blank page, part organizer, and a bunch of built-in ai writing tools. You'll pay if you want the ai, but luckily for me, I don't want it. Free writing apps to win!
• Civil war. I don't know if I want to see this movie because it seems very plausible to me or if never I want to see this movie because it seems very plausible. But by all indications, this near-future dystopian America is trying pretty hard, though we'll see if it actually pulls it off.

I have known twitter.com/ericmigi”>Eric Migicovsky since I was making smartwatches, long before everyone made cool smartwatches. After years of running Pebble and a stint as a VC, he's spent the last few years building a cross-platform messaging app called Locator. It's a great app, it had a messy fight with Apple and was recently acquired by Automattic, owner of WordPress.com and Tumblr and a lot of other things. Eric is now in charge of Automattic's big messaging plans, and they're really big.

I asked Eric to share his home screen knowing two things: he's an Android fan through and through and he uses a lot of messaging apps. I mean, he created a messaging app to collect all those messaging apps, so what do you expect? Eric is also Canadian, which means… I don't know exactly. But I wanted to know.

Here's Eric's home screen, plus information about what apps he uses and why:

The phone: Samsung Z Flip 5: the smallest Android phone on the market right now!

The wallpaper: I have no idea, probably a default one?

The applications: Maps, Photos, YouTube Music, Phone, Camera, Superhuman, Beeper, Chrome.

One of the things I like most about Android is that it requires few touches to perform tasks. I love having Calendar and Google Search right on the home screen. We added a search button to the Android Beeper widget for the same reason! One click + type name = send a message to whoever you want.

I still have ALL the chat apps installed because I need to control them!

I also asked Eric to share some things he's interested in right now. This is what he shared:

• I have two children under four years old, so I don't have much free time, but we have enjoyed 3 Body problem on netflix and Mr and Mrs Smith!
• I'm listening Confidential kitchen by Anthony Bourdain and I just finished reading There is no division of antimemetics by qntm: my new favorite author! I highly recommend his story “firewood.” He has made me reconsider my desire to upload my brain at some point.
• The best new app is ChatGPT – I use the audio version to create short stories and have my kids included in them!

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.

“Tom Scott Weekly Newsletter. I got some of my favorite things on the Internet from that newsletter, like Core type, this post about anagramsand much more.” – Nachiketa

“I picked up Grindstone after some time away from it and I managed to 100 percent complete the main levels, bonus levels and the “cosmic dark side”, and collect all the achievements. It was worth the price of Apple Arcade alone! – Stick

“I recently moved to the UK and needed to get a bank. I chose revolution. The app is packed with features and reminds me a bit of Simple (RIP). It's a little stuffy and I really had to get used to it, but it works and is pretty awesome. The multinational and multicurrency usage is impressive. It's also available in the US! – Greg

“I have been using AntennaPod for over a year and is a perfect app to replace Google Podcasts. It's open source, has no ads or analytics, and the people working on it are amazing – they hold community calls regularly to discuss the project and take feedback very seriously. Android only! – Chetan

“Playing Dune: Empire (on Android). What a great way to experience this amazing board game! AIs are tough! – gary

“I've been catching up with the criminally underrated John Rogers in Youtube. He usually makes history videos walking through the different neighborhoods of London, but the one that has caught my attention the most is him walking towards North Ockendon, a small town that is technically considered part of London.” – José

“I've been re-watching the first episodes of Big Bang Theory and marvel at all the oldest technology. iPod docks in every apartment, a whole subplot about Siri when it launched on the 4s, and super thick Windows laptops.” – Kaleb

“I'm giving Lyric a chance this week. Yes, ANOTHER social media app. They claim it's designed to be more real-time than Threads, so it's better for news, which is good, and it's based on ActivityPub, which is great. Federation for victory! “I’m still trying, but it’s interesting.” — Sighs

“So I was playing Rhythms, a puzzle game for iOS with a really cool visual design related to world music. They have a ton of Spotify playlists with examples of the music that inspired the game, but I'm an Apple Music user. So I turn to song change, a surprisingly useful little app that can, for example, give you the Tidal link for a song you searched for on Last.fm or copy your old iTunes playlists directly to YouTube. Even when it can't find a clue, it makes it very easy to help you, as a human, find the right one. It is very useful to switch music streaming services and is still useful for sending and receiving links to my Spotify friends.” -Daniel

A couple of weeks ago, I complained here about my broken keyboard and my complicated relationships with the mechanical keyboard. Thanks to everyone who reached out with ideas! Some of you said, “Buy these switches and this keyboard and do this customization and it's only $95,000,” and to all of you: thank you, they're my favorite. But the main recommendation I received was for the Logitech MX Keys, which I ended up buying. Yo love this until now. I'm certainly no expert, but it clicks without being loud, has about six trillion shortcut keys and customization options, and feels fantastic and easy to type on. The backlight is a bit finicky and uneven, but I'll take it in exchange for the hardware microphone mute key that has already made every meeting 10 percent more manageable.

Thanks to everyone who recommended things! One day I will use the full mechanical keyboard and I promise to tell you about all the dumb decisions I make.