Hi, close friends! Welcome to Installer No. 97, your guide to the most effective and Brink -iest stuff in the globe. (If you’re brand-new below, welcome, wish you’re having a great iPhone/ back to school/ it’s-finally-not-hot-anymore week, and likewise you can review all the old versions at the Installer homepage )
It’s so excellent to be back! Massive, significant many thanks to Jay Peters for doing such a wonderful job below over the last couple of months, and big many thanks to every one of you as constantly for having such excellent contributions and ideas. Jay will certainly still be around these components from time to time, too, so do not worry, your mystical video gaming recommendations aren’t going anywhere.
I was mosting likely to do an entire “all the cool things I captured up on this summer season” thing, but after that it turned out I had a newborn baby, so all I had mental capacity for was Entourage and Veep episodes on repeat. However today, I have actually been reading concerning AI physicians and face-lift culture and Glen Powell and Lofi Woman , seeing The Paper (which I truly liked as quickly as I quit desiring it to be The Office , playing the current period of NFL Retro Dish , marveling at the engineering inside AirPods , being consistently pleased with Notion AI , continuing to toss my life’s notes and nonsense into Craft , and unexpectedly preparing yourself to relocate residences. Wish my peace of mind.
I also have for you the very best points that Apple introduced this week, a new way to enjoy everyone’s favorite game show, a Stephen King movie worth seeing, and far more. We’re so back, y’ all. Let’s do this.
(As constantly, the very best part of Installer is your ideas and suggestions. What are you enjoying/ checking out/ playing/ downloading and install/ venturing out for the fall this week? Inform me everything: [email protected] And if you know someone else that could take pleasure in Installer , ahead it to them and tell them to subscribe right here )
- The iPhone 17 The Air looks excellent, the Pro has lots of outstanding features, but for my cash, the base iPhone 17 is the one to obtain this year Display upgrade, even more long lasting, camera enhancements, more storage space, wonderful price. Other than the zoom camera, there’s not actually much of a reason for individuals to go Pro. Well, with the exception of the orange. I do enjoy the orange. Hmm.
- The AirPods Pro 3 The new Apple thing that I’m most thrilled around is really the $ 250 earphones with better noise termination, better battery, even more toughness, and some useful health attributes. A slam-dunk upgrade to among Apple’s ideal items.
- Beats apple iphone 17 Pro Kickstand Instance with MagSafe and Camera Control Cumbersome name, brilliant product: an iPhone instance with a lanyard that flips around and comes to be a kickstand. I hardly understand exactly how this even functions, but I love a means to prop my phone up on the counter.
- Jeopardy! Two things I have actually recently learned about Risk : it is streaming brand-new episodes as of this week, on both Peacock and Hulu , and it is absolutely A+ history television. The always-on network is currently a staple in my house.
- The Nikon ZR This video-centric new cam seems to be approximately what you would certainly expect a year and adjustment after Nikon acquired RED: a fantastic capture system with an enormous quantity of post-production adaptability. It’s not on sale till next month, however, so begin putting aside the $ 2, 200 now.
- The Lengthy Stroll One more day, an additional Stephen King film. But obviously a pretty good one! It sounds like a rather hefty evening at the movie theater, but with a little Hunger Games, a little Squid Video game, and a lot of good efficiencies, I believe it’ll deserve the journey.
- Spotify Lossless Just took a lot of a years And at no additional price. I think it’s fantastic that there’s a higher-end streaming alternative, even though it’s not as hi-fi as a few other streaming services, and I do not assume my laptop computer audio speakers are mosting likely to forecast much difference anyway.
- Borderlands 4 This could be a stupid thing to state, however I enjoy a game that doesn’t try to be, like, thoughtful and smart and about something. Borderlands 4 makes no bones concerning what it is: it’s all story, all action, no filler, no thinking included. That’s exactly what I desired it to be.
- RabbitOS 2 I never ever before assumed that I ‘d point out Rabbit right here again. And yet the new version of this device’s software program is … type of cool? It’s still primarily a phone application dressed up in an orange box, however the touch-first user interface is way much better, the integrated AI agent is extra fun to have fun with, and I’ve really caught myself utilizing the R 1 deliberately again.
You might probably ascribe a huge component of my character to a certain period of the internet site Lifehacker In the past, it was this breezy, enjoyable, interested, and self-aware blog site concerning exactly how to use innovation and explore the net and just be a person in the future. And for a long time, it was all appearing of the mind of Gina Trapani , among the internet’s wonderful blog writers.
Gina’s been up to great deals of stuff in recent years, and now she’s blogging again! Her site, Note to Self , was an immediate subscribe for me– and if you like Installer , after that I presume you’ll like it, too. When I saw the website launch, I connected to Gina to see just how a real lifehacker does a homescreen in 2025
Below’s Gina’s homescreen, plus some information on the applications she makes use of and why:
The phone: Right now, I have actually obtained a four-year-old iPhone 13 Pro, which means I’m expecting upgrading this year. Once you obtain three to 4 years of gas mileage out of your phone, when you do ultimately trade up, the most up to date version feels definitely incredible, and I appreciate it a lot more.
The wallpaper: This is Apple’s 2025 Pride wallpaper, which I ordered in June and have not upgraded given that. I like what Apple did with the Pride makes this year– they managed to make something fresh however recognizable.
The applications: Electronic camera, Setups.
Individuals that recognize me from Lifehacker will certainly anticipate me to have a tricked-out configuration with all the hot new applications, and I’m here to let down. I have actually remained in touch-grass setting for some time; I want my preteen to see more of me than the top of my head while I look down at my phone. So my homescreen is marginal and utilitarian.
I have actually shut off mostly all those horrible red badges; I feel conflicted concerning using AI instead of my mind. I maintain a small number of my most often made use of apps on my homescreen, and mostly all of them are organized right into purpose-related folders, like Interaction, Wellness & & Health And Fitness, Travel. That includes an additional tap to get to them, however the added step assists me be deliberate regarding what I laid out to do. For every little thing else, I take down the search bar to discover it.
I’m a large note-taker, and I use Obsidian , so I have an iOS faster way called “Note.” It’s a direct web link to an Obsidian note called “Inbox,” where I catch stuff to process later on.
In Health and wellness & & Fitness, I have actually got a triathlon training app I vibe-coded on Adorable , driven by a personal Google Sheet. All it does is tell me something: whether I’m supposed to run, bike, or swim at the fitness center that day.
As it ends up, I’m almost five decades old and need a teeth-brushing coach. The Oral-B app paired with my electric toothbrush gamifies things, which helps me. It assists me get pressure and insurance coverage right, and my complete 2 minutes of brushing in since I will not or else.
Superhuman is better than Gmail. Todoist is for due dates. Citymapper is my preferred means to browse New York City. King is my where-does-the-money-go app. Inspecting ebooks out of the library with Libby brings me much joy.
I additionally asked Gina to share a few things she enjoys today. Here’s what she returned:
- KPop Demon Hunters My preteen has our whole family members deep in it, and I am not crazy regarding it.
- I’ve read real publications this year, and I extremely recommend: All Equipment Red: The Murderbot Diaries by Martha Wells (the Apple TV Plus adjustment is on my watchlist, though I hear it’s not as good as the book), The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley, and Intermezzo by Sally Rooney.
- My on-line guilty pleasure is r/LinkedInLunatics
Below’s what the Installer area is into this week. I want to know what you enjoy today also! Email [email protected] or message me on Signal– @davidpierce. 11– with your recommendations for anything and whatever, and we’ll include some of our favorites right here each week. For even more great referrals, have a look at this post on Strings , this article on Bluesky , and this post on The Verge
“I ‘acquired’ my child’s Nintendo Switch and got Devil Slayer: The Hinomaki Chronicles on sale for $ 20 Obtaining myself hyped up for the motion picture this weekend.”– Michael
“Stephen Robles on YouTube has created a fantastic iOS faster way that can aid protect your iPhone if it’s ever before swiped. It sends you the place of your tool in addition to pictures from both the front and back video cameras. It even plays a distinct alert that claims, ‘This iPhone is swiped!’ Best of all, you can activate it from any phone, whether Android or iOS.”– Owen
“I simply started Frieren and man, the hype is necessitated. I’m more of a rom-com, piece of life man rather than fantasy, yet the tale is very engaging thus far.”– Ryan
“I have actually been extensively appreciating Bill McKibben’s Right Here Comes the Sun: A Last Opportunity for Climate and a Fresh Opportunity for Civilization Its thesis– that the astoundingly fast buildout of solar and wind could supply us a lifeline out of the most awful effects of climate adjustment, if we act now– has brought much more hope and interest regarding the future than I’ve felt in what feels like years.”– Hoto
“Presently checking out the beta of 2 XKO , a complimentary 2 v 2 tag-team fighting video game embeded in the Organization of Legends world. Appears to be excellent for beginners.”– Daniel
“I’m carefully enjoying a new feature on the Garmin Forerunner 955 A recent software program upgrade incorporate my itinerary to the watch, and I obtain suggestions for time area modifications. It gave decent pointers when I went from the United States to Italy, back to the US, then to France all within a week. The mild tips of when to stop high levels of caffeine were the best.”– Sean
“I binged and enjoyed Long Story Short by the designer(s) of BoJack Horseman “– Tal
1001 Albums Generator suggests a new cd daily (including weekends if you like) from the book 1001 Cds You Need To Listen To Before You Pass away It’s a wonderful way to listen to some of the best-regarded songs and expand your listening routines beyond your songs suggestion algorithm.”– Richard
Alien: Earth Let’s speak about the octopus eye.”– Sheila
Okay, so there is one program I enjoyed this summertime that I wish to talk about, just for a second. It’s a Netflix show called Developing the Band , and it is basically American Idolizer fulfills Love is Blind meets The Circle. The facility makes no sense! It also entirely functions. I discovered myself shockingly bought all these singers and bands, and the entire thing is structured so that none of the 10 episodes ever feel repetitive or draggy. I would certainly enjoy a thousand periods of this show– and recognizing Netflix, I presume that’s exactly what we’re going to get. And not to boast, but I called the victor with about four episodes to spare.