Installer: An AI search engine and the coolest speakers ever

  News, Rassegna Stampa
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Hi, friends! Welcome back to issue No. 2 of Installer, your guide to all the best and Verge-iest stuff in the world. Thanks so much to everyone who’s been emailing, commenting, sending feedback, and telling me what you want to see in this series going forward. I love chatting with you all about what you’re building, what you’re binge-watching, and everything else. 

Two housekeeping things: first, a bunch of you told me you didn’t like the whole “(link)” thing, both for aesthetic and accessibility reasons. Fair and fair! So we’re just scrapping it. From now on, it’ll be simpler: I’ll bold the most important link – the direct link to the thing we’re talking about — and regular link everything else. Thanks to everyone who emailed and commented, especially the ones who were nice about it. We’re all learning every day over here, folks.

I also heard from a few folks that last week’s issue was a little Apple-centric. I agree, for what it’s worth, but it’s a tricky problem to solve! It’s just the unfortunate truth that most cool things launch on iOS and Mac before they come to Android and Windows. But also, I’m forever biased toward cross-platform stuff, and when I can, I’ll try and make sure to keep things even. And if you find a cool thing for a platform I’m not covering enough, send it my way!

Oh, and to all of you who asked for an RSS feed: it’s coming. Soon. So soon. Plus we have some other fun ideas about how you can subscribe to Installer. But seriously, so soon.

Anyway, I promised no long preambles, so let’s get to it. This week I’ve been reading up on the fight for the future of the Internet Archive, planning my life in the Amie calendar app, playing too much Laya’s Horizon, trying to figure out how to make extreme pogo-sticking my next career, and trying to get a bunch of work done before I completely disappear into Madden NFL 24 for the next few months. And this week I have some podcast listening for your weekend errands, a new AI app to try, and a set of speakers that are totally absurd and totally wonderful. Let’s go.

(Again, 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: installer@theverge.com. And if you know someone else who might enjoy Installer, forward it to them and tell them to subscribe here.)

Some of the best new stuff on the internet, and in the world, this week.

  • “The Internet Dilemma” from Radiolab: One of the better 30-minute summations of the Section 230 fight you’re ever going to hear, I think. It makes pretty convincing arguments for both sides, which is exactly why the fight over 230 is so messy, and it lands in about the right place. (If you haven’t heard it before, the Radiolab episode about the launch of a new cryptocurrency is one of my favorite tech stories ever.)  
  • “The Doomsday AI Scenario in Hollywood from The Town: Speaking of good pods to listen to this weekend! The Town is one of my favorite shows about the business of entertainment, and I loved this deep dive with Justine Bateman into what exactly AI might do to Hollywood. It’s a bit fatalistic in spots, I think? But it’s fascinating.
  • Nokia G310 5G: I don’t know if this is going to be a great phone, but it feels like an important one. It’s a nice-looking $186 midrange phone, but it’s made with user repair explicitly in mind. You can swap in more storage, a new battery, and more. The US doesn’t have a lot of phones like this, and here’s hoping it becomes a trend. 
  • The Keen utility knife: The folks at Studio Neat have long made some of my favorite tools and accessories – the Glif phone stand lived in my bag for years — and its newest project is a small, handsome utility knife. At $120 retail (or $95 on Kickstarter), it’s pretty expensive, but the Studio Neat stuff tends to be worth the price.
  • Perplexity AI 2.0: AI chatbots are a dime a dozen at this point, but I’ve always liked the way Perplexity handles citing its sources and delivering information — it’s a good mix of answers and links for lots of questions. The 2.0 update is basically just a redesign, but hey, it’s a good redesign!
  • Blue Beetle: My main goal for the weekend is to get to a theater to see Blue Beetle, which sounds like a slightly by-the-numbers but still very fun and silly superhero flick. 
  • 8BitDo Micro controller: Trust me, a teeny-tiny game controller is exactly the smartphone accessory you need in your life. I think I still prefer the Lite model, which has joysticks, but this one is $25, weighs basically nothing, and will make all your 2D games a little more fun to play. 
  • Supreme Soundsticks: The Harman / Kardon Soundsticks have been around for 23 years, and I think they’re still the best-looking desk speakers on the planet. I am, uh, quite confident that the Supreme collab ones will cost more than the standard $300 price for the Soundsticks 4. But that red, y’all. THAT RED.
  • The Zen Magsafe Charger Stand: Maisy Leigh has long been one of my favorite desk setup and productivity YouTubers, and I really dig the colorful, decidedly un-gadgety charging stand she created. Maisy’s video about the product development process is also definitely worth a watch.

Alex Winter knows video. He’s been a well-known actor for decades and has directed everything from an Ice Cube music video to a documentary about the deep web. So just before he and I hung up after finishing a Vergecast chat about his new doc, The YouTube Effect, I asked him to tell me a few of his favorite tech docs. Here’s what he rattled off.