Two new tech documentaries you really want to see

Hello, buddies! Welcome to Installer No. 61, your information to the very best and Verge-iest stuff on the planet. (Should you’re new right here, welcome, completely happy Hallmark season, and likewise you possibly can learn all of the previous editions on the Installer homepage.) 

I missed you all final week — due to everybody who advised me you missed Installer, too! Warms my coronary heart, and likewise makes me really feel horrible for not being there, however principally warms my coronary heart. Let’s get again at it. This week, I’ve been studying about venom and lethal automobile races and hockey phenoms, organising the brand new Mac Mini I lastly caved and acquired, watching The Day of the Jackal (which is spectacular) and Wolfs (which is ok), devouring the Darkish Matter and Say Nothing books earlier than I watch the exhibits, seeing if Google’s Gemini app can substitute my search engine, attempting to restart my notebooking behavior with MyMind, and listening to the Halt and Catch Hearth soundtrack on repeat.

I even have for you a pleasant new music-making gadget, a few attention-grabbing new documentaries, a humongous Alexa gadget, the subsequent massive factor in Dune, and far more.

And I’ve a query: what’s in your present record this yr? Stuff you need, stuff you’re giving, it’s all truthful sport. I’m placing collectively an Installer-y present information for subsequent week and would love your concepts! (And truthful warning, I’m going to be asking for many your suggestions the subsequent few weeks — I have some enjoyable year-end issues deliberate.)

Okay, tons occurring this week! Let’s get into it.

(As at all times, the very best a part of Installer is your concepts and suggestions. What are you into proper now? What ought to everybody else be watching / studying / taking part in / listening to / air-frying this week? Inform me every little thing: installer@theverge.com. And if you realize another person who may take pleasure in Installer, inform them to subscribe right here.)

• Surveilled. First, learn Ronan Farrow’s newest New Yorker article about how the US authorities may very simply hack your tech. Then watch this new doc about how this type of factor is going on all around the world, and Farrow gained’t appear so dramatic when he mainly advocates hucking your telephone out the window. 
• Purchase Now! The Procuring Conspiracy. This appears prefer it belongs within the legacy of The Nice Hack and The Social Dilemma, which is to say, very alarming and considerably overstated documentaries about how the world actually works. However the tips corporations use to get you to maintain spending cash, even the plain ones, are fairly alarming to see laid out like this.
• Teenage Engineering’s OP-XY. The OP-1 remains to be Teenage Engineering’s traditional and most iconic synthesizer, however this new synthesizer / sampler / sequencer appears like an much more highly effective transportable music maker. TE is possibly the one firm that makes me want I had been a musician, simply so I’d have a motive to purchase this.
• Dune: Prophecy. My obsession with all issues Dune is just not a secret if you happen to’ve been studying Installer for some time. Up to now, this super-prequel isn’t precisely fizzing with motion, but it surely’s dramatic and massive and I’m into it.
• Yr of the Ring. Our buddies over at Polygon put collectively this epic story about an epic story: Lord of the Rings. Tales in regards to the books, the films, the characters, the fanfiction, and a lot extra. Should you’re a Tolkien-head, you gained’t need to miss this.
• Queue. A superbly minimalist iPhone podcast app, this one. You add a present, it places new episodes in a listing, you play issues from the record. The extra I exploit it, the extra I ponder why any podcast app does the rest.
• Tokyo Override. Intense commentary about capitalism, fascism, AI, and the surveillance state, dressed up in a stylishly animated story about hackers driving bikes in futuristic Tokyo? Extraordinarily into it.
• The Amazon Echo Present 21. I’m sorry, however a 21-inch “sensible show” is only a TV. However I feel Amazon’s concept with these new, larger Echo gadgets — which is mainly to have one big display screen because the hub of your sensible residence — is the appropriate one.  
• One Billion Customers. The parents at Techdirt have a surprisingly robust hit price for enjoyable video games. I purchased their CIA card sport some time again and performed the heck out of Startup Path. This one’s a card sport about beginning a social community, and it’ll be a success at my Thanksgiving considered one of these years.
• The JVC HA-NP1T “Nearphones”. One other cool-looking set of open-ear headphones, which allow you to hear your music and the world round you. And in contrast to so many others, these don’t break the bank! 100 bucks, in that darkish inexperienced shade, feels like my form of factor.
• IMG_0001. A couple of weeks in the past, Ben Wallace discovered a trove of movies on YouTube that had been uploaded immediately from iPhones a dozen years in the past or so. Riley Walz went and compiled 5 million of the movies, they usually’re each extremely mundane and sometimes weirdly intimate? It’s simply, like, folks’s actual lives, uploaded earlier than anybody knew to not.

There aren’t many individuals who do pretty much as good a job explaining tech to common people as Wealthy DeMuro. You may know him as “Wealthy on Tech” from the teevee if you happen to reside in LA, the place he’s a tech reporter for KTLA. You may additionally have heard his radio present / podcast or learn his e-newsletter. I’ve been following his work perpetually, and we’ve crossed paths just a few instances at varied occasions as we run to play with new iPhones or Pixel telephones. 

Like all good reporter, Wealthy is perpetually utilizing one million devices. So I requested him to share his present homescreen and inform me somewhat about the way it all works. I acquired much more than I bargained for.

The telephone: I usually carry three telephones with me… my main SIM is in an iPhone, then I normally have the newest Samsung and Pixel for reference. I reply a whole lot of questions on these telephones each day for my followers and speak about what you are able to do with them on my radio present (and podcast!), Wealthy On Tech. So it’s helpful to have them standing by, for the reason that approach you do issues is barely totally different on every.

The wallpaper: My homescreen wallpaper is normally fairly boring. I don’t put an entire lot of thought into it. Generally I’ll have my youngsters decide one thing cool for me for the season, however in any other case, my wallpaper can linger for months. I at all times get it from the app Backdrops. I simply head into the “Summary” class and discover it there.

Normally, the wallpapers on my telephones will match, however typically I’ll change them independently.

The apps: On iPhone: YouTube Music, Notion, Apple Information, ElevenReader, Settings, Google Pictures, Google Maps, Google Calendar, Claude, Microsoft To Do, JustWatch, Techmeme, Gmail, Electronic mail Me, Instagram, X, Cellphone, Telegram, Messages, Chrome. On Android: principally the identical, plus Samsung Voice Recorder and Voicenotes.

In terms of my iPhone, I preserve it fairly easy with simply the apps that I exploit each day. I not too long ago switched to YouTube Music from Spotify as a result of it’s included in my YouTube Premium membership. I actually just like the supermixes that they generate. I nonetheless suppose Spotify is healthier, however YouTube Music works simply superb.

I’ve tried each single note-taking app on the planet, and Notion truly appears to do a majority of the stuff I like. Earlier than that, it was Obsidian, and I appreciated the way it was kind of self-hosted, however Notion is far simpler throughout varied gadgets, and it simply works. I’ve additionally tried each single to-do record on the planet, and as soon as I put one thing on my to-do record, it’s virtually assured it’s not going to be carried out. There are two issues I like about Microsoft To Do: you can begin every day recent with a recent record only for that day, and you’ll connect a file to your to-do objects.

I exploit my e-mail inbox as kind of my to-do record, so all articles, random notes, and web sites I need to try later go there first, and I triage when I’ve time. Meaning I at all times have some kind of “e-mail myself” app. On iPhone, I really like Electronic mail Me, and on Android, I simply discovered a brand new app to exchange my previous one, additionally known as EmailMe, however not from the identical developer. It mainly opens up a Gmail or Outlook compose window along with your e-mail tackle already populated.

Any time I put an article in a read-later app, I by no means ever get to it. I’m actually looking for a greater approach for that system, however I really like how ElevenReader can learn articles to me whereas I’m on the health club if I need to brush up on issues earlier than my radio present. 

My most popular AI is Claude. I really like the way it offers with extra summarizations of issues and the English language versus picture era and such. 

A few different apps that I completely love: one is an iOS app known as Whisper Memos. It’ll use AI to transcribe what I say with eerie accuracy, and it’ll e-mail that data to me so I can cope with it later. It’s nice for podcasts once you’re within the automobile and listen to one thing you need to bear in mind. One other known as Voicenotes: it’s extra of a digital voice pocket book. It’s on iOS and Android, and you’ll search your notes utilizing AI, kind of like ChatGPT in your notes.

I preserve going backwards and forwards on Twitter / X. It’s undoubtedly doomscrolling for me, however I haven’t actually gotten used to Threads, nor do I like the thought of 1 firm controlling all of my social media between Fb, Instagram, and Threads. So I’m nonetheless there.

I additionally requested Wealthy to share just a few issues he’s into proper now. Right here’s what he despatched again:

• Due to my wild work schedule (I work early mornings, so I don’t have the standard downtime at night time to simply watch some TV), I hardly ever watch TV exhibits or motion pictures. I principally watch after I’m touring — proper now, I’m bingeing That ‘90s Present, which I discover simple to digest and foolish. However I principally persist with motion pictures.
• Proper now, I’m actually into the writer Teddy Wayne. I liked his guide The Winner and have been studying his older stuff. 
• I additionally like several sci-fi and have been studying the writer T.J. Newman, who was a flight attendant and wrote her first guide doing red-eye flights. Cool success story.
• As for podcasts, I at all times hearken to Techmeme Journey Dwelling every morning (mockingly on my solution to work) and examine Techmeme normally a few gazillion instances a day. Enjoyable reality: I used to be an editor there for a yr or so.

Right here’s what the Installer group is into this week. I need to know what you’re into proper now as properly! Electronic mail installer@theverge.com or message me on Sign — @davidpierce.11 — along with your suggestions for something and every little thing, and we’ll characteristic a few of our favorites right here each week. For much more nice suggestions, try the replies to this publish on Threads and this publish on Bluesky. That’s proper, we’re doing Bluesky now, too. Come hang around!

“A brand new timed crossword puzzle sport known as SnowFall. Love the way it takes the weather of a crossword puzzle and throws them at you one by one. Builds somewhat anxiousness to the limitless time of a conventional crossword. Begins simple however will get laborious quick. Helps fill the pockets of time after I can’t do a full crossword.” – Neal

“Deep in Apple TV Plus this previous couple weeks. Silo is again, and the second season of Unhealthy Sisters continues to be compelling TV. Small display screen guidelines going into the vacations.” – Matthew

“Cooked has been an enormous assist turning my ever-growing assortment of social media recipes into one thing truly usable.” – Dylan

“I switched to Thunderbird on my Pixel gadget, and it’s higher IMO than the Gmail app. My greatest criticism with the Gmail app was not having the ability to see if my different accounts have emails with out absolutely switching over to them. Once you open up the navigation pane, you possibly can simply see what accounts have an unread e-mail. (I don’t like unified inboxes, both.) Additionally, the split-pane view on the Pixel Fold’s internal show may be very a lot welcome.” – Sean

“Attempting to resolve if I need to splurge on the brand new Razer Wolverine. It’s lastly wi-fi for Xbox, however then the query turns into whether or not I can tolerate the software program on PC. It’s been fascinating lastly seeing wi-fi Xbox controllers from different manufacturers.” – Luke

“Studying in regards to the fascinating and morbid historical past of vampire burials with the hilarious Milo Rossi!” – Josh

“Sill, by Tyler Fisher, is a brand new instrument that connects to your Bluesky and / or Mastodon accounts, gathering all hyperlinks posted to your timeline and displaying the preferred ones in your community. It’s much like Nuzzel for Twitter and free to make use of. I’ve been discovering it extremely helpful to get a sense for what’s trending.” – Paulo

“Recently, I’ve been actually into KarmaZoo, a singular little multiplayer puzzle platformer that options you, as a cute little pixel animal, wordlessly teaming up with a bunch of different player-animals — every with their very own particular skills — to navigate ranges as a crew. It’s giving and gracious and an absolute blast.” – Dan

“Automobile Movement Cues on iOS to do two issues: 1) Stop movement illness utilizing the telephone whereas driving in a automobile and a couple of) Remind myself that I mustn’t use my telephone whereas driving in a automobile.” – Johnson

“I purchased a few these 3-in-1 chargers from Anker for touring, and I really like them a lot. My fiance can by no means bear in mind to deliver each of his cords to cost his telephone and his watch once we journey, so I’m very excited.” – Luke

“I’m excited that I scored tickets to see Interstellar in 70mm IMAX for its tenth anniversary. It’s considered one of my favourite motion pictures of all time, and I simply occur to reside by one of many few theaters that may play it in 70mm. I’m pumped!” – Tony

“I’ve been getting again into listening to music I truly personal. It’s powerful to search out an aesthetic and helpful FLAC-compatible music participant on the Mac, however Doppler has been filling that function fairly properly. A easy interface and Final.fm scrobbling are my favourite options.” – Russ

“Reeder simply added Bluesky account integration! Now, it has Mastodon, Bluesky, YouTube, RSS, podcasts… It’s slowly turning into my first and solely app open!” – Kelly

It’s formally essentially the most fantastic time of the yr: Vacation Film Season! I’m virtually embarrassed to elucidate how a lot I really like crappy vacation motion pictures and the way excited I get after I each get to start the rotation of the favorites (The Vacation, Love Really, Elf, and Dwelling Alone are in all probability my Mount Rushmore, however there are various others) and the seemingly infinite provide of latest ones Hallmark and others crank out yearly. I’ve Us Weekly’s full information to the season bookmarked in my browser, and I’m solely barely ashamed to confess that I simply signed up for Hallmark Plus. I promise you this: I shall be getting my cash’s price. Simply please assist me to recollect to cancel earlier than New Yr’s Eve. And when you have a vacation favourite, ship it my approach! The more severe the higher.