Teenage Engineering did it again

Hi, friends! Welcome to Installer No. 94, your guide to the best and Verge-iest stuff in the world. (If you’re new here, welcome, did you hydrate today, and also you can read all the old editions at the Installer homepage.)

I also have for you some durable cables, a great new Alien show, a strange RPG, and more.

(As always, the best part of Installer is your ideas and tips. What do you want to know more about? What awesome tricks do you know that everyone else should? What app should everyone be using? Tell me everything: [email protected]. And if you know someone else who might enjoy Installer, forward it to them and tell them to subscribe here.)

This week I’m featuring Soren Iverson, who you may recognize as the person who posts unhinged design concepts on social media like an iOS app icon filling up based on how many notifications the app has. Whenever these cross my feed, I nearly always cackle. I expected him to bring some of that chaos on his actual homescreen, but I was surprised to learn that his homescreen is even more minimal than mine — which inspired me to make mine a little less busy, too.

The wallpaper: A black screen. I try to make time on my phone intentional, I call, text, or take notes most frequently. Everything else I bury as a more intentional action I have to take so that I’m generally more focused.

The apps: Phone, Messages, Notes

I also asked Soren to share a few things he’s into right now. Here’s what he said:

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] 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 The Verge, this post on Threads, and this post on Bluesky.

“Buying a bunch of Ubiquiti gear for the new house that totally isn’t overkill.” — SorryAboutYourCat

“Model railroading. Been holding off converting to DCC from DC hoping a well designed modern alternative will appear, but it’s the same over priced out of date market it’s always been.” — RoboticsRob

“I’ve been playing Merge Maestro way too much. It’s a fun match game with Super Auto Pets-like emoji artwork. Free-to-start on mobile with a $2 price for the entire game.” — Dominick

“Reading: The Next Conversation by Jefferson Fisher. Playing: Dishonored for the first time. Watching: Mr. Robot and Murderbot (does this count as a theme?) Rabbit hole: Home Assistant and generally reducing my digital footprint (I say as making this public post).” — Omega86

“Just got to watching The Penguin, and it’s a really fun gangster romp set in Gotham. I’ve mostly tired of the superhero stuff, but I’m always a sucker for good origin tales, and this really delivers. And the secret is, it’s really about Sofia Falcone and her war with her patriarchal mob family. Cristin Milioti is fantastic in the role.” — verge_user_m573tv18

“UFO 50 just came out on the Nintendo Switch. I’ve been following the podcast Eggplant: The Secret Lives of Gamers, which is going through each of the 50 games in a book club-like format, with just one game a week.” — Wolf3d.exe -goobers

“I, like many other people, watched Barbarian recently on Netflix. It’s leaving on August 31st. The director’s new movie, Weapons, just came out. Highly, highly recommend Barbarian. It’s fun to go in blind, and even if you’ve seen the trailer, you’ll still be spared some of its great twists. There’s more humor in it than you might expect, and the gruesome aspects aren’t over-the-top.” — Cameron

Google is about to kick off the 2025 gadget season with its Pixel launch event on August 20th. I’d love to hear from you all: Are you planning to upgrade anything this year, and if so, why? What are you hoping Apple, Google, and others will announce? Or are you going to keep holding onto your gear?