The new app every movie lover needs

  News, Rassegna Stampa
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Hi friends! Welcome to the first-ever edition of Installer. My hope here every week is to be your guide to all the best and Verge-iest stuff in the world. My original pitch for this was just “what if we just found all the cool apps/videos/creators/whatevers every week and put it all in one place,” and that’s what Installer is here to be.

Normally, these won’t start with a long preamble about How It All Works, but seeing as we’ve never done this before, I’ll try and explain things as we go. First and most important: Installer absolutely positively does not work without you. I’m going to do my best to find great new stuff every week, but I’m also hoping you’ll tag me in funny posts, DM me hilarious memes, and email me (installer@theverge.com) links to all the best stuff you encounter all over the web. We’re going to make this thing great together every single week.

There are two ways to get Installer: on theverge.com every Sunday morning or in newsletter form every Saturday. Subscribers get a full day’s head start. But David, you’re saying, I hate email. Who needs more email? I’m with you — I don’t like reading newsletters in my inbox either. But I have solutions!

  • Many RSS readers, like Feedbin (link), Inoreader (link), and Feedly (link), give you an email address you can use to send newsletters like this one straight to the app. Personally, I do all my newsletter reading through Feedbin in Reeder (link) on iOS and Feeder (link) on Android, and it works great.
  • You can also use a read-later app, some of which also offer email addresses. Matter (link) is a good one for Apple users, and Omnivore (link) and the (still-in-beta) Readwise Reader (link) work across lots of platforms. 
  • A lot of folks I know have an email address they only use for newsletters, which is probably the simplest and cheapest workaround. Or you can always break that AOL email out of retirement for just this purpose.

Oh, one other formatting thing. Wherever you see bold text and a “(link),” that’s something you can try, read, download, whatever — I’ll try and link directly to as many things as possible. I’ll also link related stories and information throughout, but click on a “(link)” and you’ll always go right to the good stuff.

Alright, enough of that. Let’s get to the good stuff. This week, I’ve been testing the Kagi search engine (link), reading about how to hack a card shuffler (link), getting back into Supernatural boxing (link) on the Meta Quest, watching and trying to figure out Full Circle (link), and binge-listening to the Spy Valley podcast (link). I also have a new note-taking app to tell you about, an animated show I think you’re going to like, and some tips on how to use my favorite new browser. 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.)

This is where, every week, I’ll tell you about some of the best new stuff. Always new, always good, always worth checking out. 

  • Callsheet (link): I hate the IMDb app and the website with the huge banner telling you about the app. Callsheet is way better: a super-fast iPhone and iPad app for looking up cast and crew in whatever you’re watching, and JustWatch integration in case you wind up finding something more interesting to watch. (This was also by far the thing I heard most about this week — thanks to everyone who sent this in!)
  • Strange Planet on Apple TV Plus (link): Nathan Pyle’s comic has been one of the best things on Instagram for years, and I’ve been really enjoying the new animated show as well. It has some Rick and Morty and Bojack Horseman DNA, plus a little bit of Ted Lasso vibes? Oh, and even if you don’t have Apple TV Plus, you can still watch the first episode at the link.
  • Goodnotes 6.0 (link): Goodnotes is my favorite cross-platform tool for handwritten notes, and it just got some really clever updates — including an AI tool that can learn your handwriting, correct your spelling, and even write longhand for you. Wild.
  • Nerf Pro Stryfe X (link): My colleague Sean Hollister called this “the best official blaster ever made,” and trust me, Sean knows his stuff. It’s the first-ever official Nerf blaster to use half-length darts, and it’s modded for outrageous firepower. It’s $120 and up for preorder now, and I suspect you’re gonna want to get on the list quickly.
  • The YouTube Effect (link): A new doc from Alex Winter about the whole story of YouTube. There’s good, there’s bad, Section 230 appears, and it doesn’t cover a huge amount of new ground, but it’s a really good dive into the nuances of the platform. (I also just got off a podcast recording with Winter, so look out for that on The Vergecast on Wednesday.) 
  • Shortwave for Android (link): Shortwave is one of the few email apps I think is onto something really right. It’s a bit like Google Inbox in that it’s constantly sorting and categorizing your inbox to make it work. The Android app is a little buggy in this first iteration, but it’s still one to try.
  • Netflix Game Controller (link): Netflix has been pushing into gaming for a while now, but this is the most interesting development yet — it’s building a controller app that you use to play games on your TV. It seems super early and maybe wasn’t released intentionally at all, but keep an eye on this one.
  • The Lego Concorde (link): I have two competing thoughts on all these incredibly cool new Lego sets. One is they are absurdly, preposterously expensive — this one is $200 and isn’t even the worst you’ll find. But the second is that I want them all so, so, so bad.

The internet is full of tips and tricks. Some of them are great! Most of them are useless. In this space, every week, we’re going to learn how to use our stuff better from the people who know best: the ones who actually make the products.