From The Verge · David Pierce · · 3m
Installer 147: Tech goes to the movies
David Pierce returns from parental leave with recommendations spanning a new Facebook film, AI books, gaming, and the apps reshaping his digital life.
In brief
David Pierce returns from parental leave with recommendations spanning a new Facebook film, AI books, gaming, and the apps reshaping his digital life. Installer 147 showcases tech culture's growing presence in entertainment, from The Social Reckoning to Cupertino, alongside new hardware and software reshaping how…
Welcome back to Installer
David Pierce returns from parental leave part time with Installer number one forty-seven, your guide to the best and Verge-iest stuff in the world.
Tech goes Hollywood
The Social Reckoning, a new Facebook movie starring Jeremy Strong and written by Aaron Sorkin, marks tech's growing presence in prestige entertainment.
Amazon finally nails tablets
The Amazon Alexa Tablet twelve Pro is the iPad but cheaper that consumers have waited years for, with a high-end model featuring a fancy screen.
Inside the AI industry
Kevin Roose's book The AGI Chronicles reveals how a few executives and their relationships came to determine the future of artificial intelligence.
Star Wars racing arrives
Star Wars: Galactic Racer is a high-fidelity racing game where you pilot a podracer, available free to Prime subscribers on Amazon's Luna service.
Tech gets a procedural
Cupertino, from the makers of The Good Wife, is a thoughtful tech and AI procedural that Pierce describes as exactly what you think it is.
Microsoft's laptop answer
The Surface Laptop Ultra costs two thousand six hundred dollars and offers uncompromising MacBook Pro competition with impressive AI capabilities.
Gears of War origin story
Gears of War: E-Day delivers on raw combat, story and exploration, fulfilling the long-awaited origin-story title fans have been waiting for.
Michael Lewis on DOGE
Blockers tells the story of Elon Musk and DOGE, focusing on government employees who tried to stop them from running roughshod over the federal government.
Parental leave screen time
Pierce spent seven weeks on the couch with a baby, filling time with Reddit, TikTok, reading and crosswording, then redesigned his entire homescreen.
iPhone seventeen setup
Pierce uses an iPhone seventeen with a black wallpaper and apps including Unread, Instapaper, Google Maps, Capacities, Daygame, Flora and Pocket Casts.
New note-taking discoveries
Flora is a journaling app in TestFlight that pulls in workout data and photos. Prism is a note-taking app as fast as texting with organizational powers.
Reading setup overhaul
Pierce switched from Readwise Reader to Instapaper after buying a Kobo for its integration, though the Boox Palma three arrival may reshape his reading universe.
Community picks this week
Installer readers shared StarCraft two, old-school Garmin GPS, Hyperfixed podcast, Wolverine on PS five, retro Nintendo three DS XL gaming and more.
HTX Studio YouTube channel
Pierce recommends HTX Studio, a Chinese maker channel over a year old with innovative tech videos including one about AirDesk he has watched twenty-five times.
Here's the gist
Installer 147 showcases tech culture's growing presence in entertainment, from The Social Reckoning to Cupertino, alongside new hardware and software reshaping how people work and play.
