Monument Valley 3: a worthy replace to a wonderful cellular recreation

Hi, associates! Welcome to Installer No. 64, your information to the very best and Verge-iest stuff on this planet. (If you’re new right here, welcome, prepare for some bizarre documentaries, and in addition you may learn all of the outdated editions on the Installer homepage.) 

This week, I’ve been studying about uncooked milk and $HAWK and WhatsApp, watching A Man on the Inside and the brand new Ken Burns da Vinci doc, lastly getting caught up on The Great British Bake Off (about which I’ve SO MANY FEELINGS), storing all my loyalty numbers and Airbnb codes in Cheatsheet, and doing a genuinely upsetting quantity of analysis on pizza stones.  

I even have for you a pleasant new cellular recreation, an E Ink pill value a glance, a stunning new to-dos app, and rather more. It’s a unusually Netflix-centric week, which is odd for mid-December? But so it goes. Let’s dive in.

(As all the time, the very best a part of Installer is your concepts and ideas. What are you watching / studying / taking part in / baking / listening to / soldering this week? Tell me every part: installer@theverge.com. And if you recognize another person who may get pleasure from Installer, ahead it to them and inform them to subscribe right here.)

• Monument Valley 3. I’ve thought of it, and Monument Valley is my favourite cellular recreation collection of all time. It’s attractive, quiet with out being ponderous, and infinitely replayable. Even the soundtrack is considered one of my all-time faves! It’s a bit odd to say “it’s important to have a Netflix subscription to play this recreation in your telephone,” however you do. And if you have already got one, it’s an enormous win.
• Mozi. Ev Williams constructed Twitter, Medium, and now this — an app for planning along with your actual associates, and connecting with people who’re on the town. Strikes me as form of… area of interest? But intelligent. And since Facebook stopped mattering, there’s actually nothing else prefer it.
• iOS 18.2. I’m together with this one largely as a PSA to iPhone homeowners: all of the Apple Intelligence stuff is no matter, however the truth that you may change go to Settings > Apps > Default Apps and alter what you utilize for keyboards, calls, e-mail, and extra, completely guidelines. Go make it work the best way you need.
• The Supernote A5 X2 Manta. Dumb title, actually cool-looking new E Ink pill. $459 is so much for a tool like this, however I dig Supernote’s emphasis on making it repairable and upgradeable. I like that these digital notebooks proceed to get higher.
• Joi Planner. You certainly already know this about me, however I’m a sucker for a fantastic app. And this one, a combo calendar / duties / behavior tracker for iPhones, is among the best-looking “day at a look” designs I’ve ever seen. The app is, and feels, prefer it’s lacking some options, however I dig it.
• Nickel Boys. Based on the terrific, brutal novel of the identical title, the film is filmed nearly totally in first-person views. And it appears to work. Lots of people assume that is going to win loads of awards — don’t miss it.
• “Behind the scenes calling the Simpsons Monday Night Football Game.”  I by no means completely obtained the attraction of those animated aspect broadcasts, however the technical story of how they work is extraordinarily cool. Pair that with this new video on how soccer is shot for TV, and it’s like a manufacturing grasp class unexpectedly.
• Carry-On. I don’t know if it’s simply my algorithm or what, however this Netflix film has been in all places on my feeds the previous couple of weeks. It additionally could be the brand new document holder for gifting away the entire thing within the trailer. But I’ll nonetheless be watching it this weekend — right here’s hoping it’s good, and Christmas-y, and might go within the Die Hard vacation canon.

Did you subscribe to The Verge but? You don’t must in an effort to get Installer, however you must anyway! I’m not remotely biased, and I believe it’s a fairly good web site. And we’ve got huge plans.

Esther Cohen is the individual making all these plans, and making them actual. She’s been working like loopy the previous couple of months as our director of subscriptions, and so I figured now could be a good time to ask her to do extra work and share her homescreen with us. How many subscriptions does the subscription director have, you recognize? Inquiring minds need to know.

Here’s Esther’s homescreen, plus some data on the apps she makes use of and why:

The wallpaper: An image of my (very huge) youngsters and me from my birthday this 12 months. (It’s additionally my lockscreen, the place I can see their faces.) Apparently, I’m a masochist and each time I see that my 11-year-old son is my peak it makes me need to cry.

The apps: Weather, Settings, Apple Maps, Safari, Slack, The Verge, Apple Notes, Spotify, Phone, Mail, Messages, WhatsApp.

One strategy to summarize my apps is primary. At the highest proper, I hold all my utility stuff: issues I exploit as I am going about my day. (I’m largely trying up locations in NYC and determining methods to get there — don’t @ me, I choose Apple Maps!)

The backside left nook is the place I spend essentially the most time, totally on work-related apps like Slack, the Verge homepage, and Apple Notes. I’m horrible at unplugging and really feel the necessity to keep up to date on work always, so having the calendar widget entrance and middle is a lifesaver. I are likely to lose monitor of time once I’m deep right into a venture, so seeing my upcoming conferences at a look is tremendous useful.

Spotify is my most-used “enjoyable” app; it’s what I exploit for podcasts and music whereas working, figuring out, cooking, and many others. Oh, and I just lately moved social media apps off my house display screen — it’s been a game-changer for my stress and focus.

I additionally requested Esther to share a number of issues she’s into proper now. Here’s what she despatched again:

• Watching: Shrinking. I’ve been actually having fun with this present — it’s one of many least cynical issues in leisure proper now. It’s not fairly Scrubs degree (extremely advocate a rewatch!), however it’s heartfelt, humorous, fantastically written and shot, and by no means saccharine.
• Playing: Mahjong! The youngsters and I play a number of instances every week throughout dinner, and it’s so stress-free. I even have the Real Mah Jongg app on my telephone. It may really be the one app I pay for?
• Listening: Molière: Le Spectacle Musical. Hear me out: final 12 months, TikTok stored serving me clips of this French musical that’s like an urban-pop Hamilton about Molière’s life. I just lately discovered the soundtrack on Spotify, and it’s been on repeat in our home. I don’t perceive a phrase, however the songs are whole bangers.
• Reading: The Atlantic. This may cement my primary girly standing, however I just lately subscribed to The Atlantic and — truthfully? — each single story is so good. Lately, I’ve been considering so much about what makes a publication value paying for, and I like that I genuinely need to learn nearly every part on their homepage and social feeds.

Here’s what the Installer group is into this week. I need to know what you’re into proper now as nicely! Email installer@theverge.com or message me on Signal — @davidpierce.11 — along with your suggestions for something and every part, and we’ll characteristic a few of our favorites right here each week. For much more nice suggestions, take a look at the replies to this publish on Threads and this publish on Bluesky.

“I’m attempting to be taught 3D modeling as a result of I simply obtained a Bambu A1.“ — Erwin

“My favourite music-to-work-by web site is myNoise. I significantly like ‘Medieval Library’ and ‘Medieval Village’ (with turned-down blacksmith’s clang). It’s free to make use of, however for those who toss the fascinating French sound engineer obsessive Stephane a couple of bucks you get lifetime entry to a bunch extra sounds in addition to some good instruments.” — Molly

“Caves of Qud is an esoteric masterpiece of a recreation, I’m on my tenth character, I’ve barely seen a fraction of the world, however I’m hooked” — Jack

“I’ve completed studying Deep Work by Cal Newport. It offered helpful insights about methods to take trip of your busy schedule to deal with deep work. It additionally offered methods to minimise distractions and reduce down shallow work.” — Ankur

“I obtained actually actually enamored by the Pixel 9 Pro Fold. I don’t know why. The thickness of it, simply sitting subsequent to a 15 Pro Max after which unfolding it to that display screen inside… it’s one thing.” — Abhi

“The recreation Mouthwashing is getting loads of consideration proper now, however I’m simply letting Indiana Jones and the Great Circle wash over me. It’s been a really very long time since we had something even remotely good with this franchise, however this recreation appears to actually nail the vibe.” — Mike

“Reading the gargantuan Wind and Truth from Brandon Sanderson! It’s been fairly a doozy of a guide.” – Jiatao

“I wanted an inexpensive pair of earbuds whereas I look ahead to the AirPods Pro 3. I purchased the Baseus Bowie MA10 they usually work higher than I may ask for. They do precisely what I want them to do: play my music and podcasts.” — Alex

“I simply purchased a ROG Ally X and I’m excited to twin boot it with Bazzite to show it into half Steam Deck / half Windows gaming handheld, in order that I can get the very best of each worlds.” — Benny

“Just completed the superb Stories Are Weapons by Annalee Newitz, concerning the energy of storytelling & worldbuilding in propaganda & psyops. Fascinating, insightful, usually humorous & tragic in turns. A very nice learn that’s serving to me course of our more and more polarized world.” — Kailey

“So I’m utterly new to graphic novels. Went on Reddit to see the highest suggestions. Came throughout Miles Davis and the Search for the Sound. What a tremendous intro to this medium! Highly really useful for followers of Miles Davis and jazz.” — Mike

Last week on The Vergecast, I discussed that I constantly have a tough time determining cheap, comparatively common items to purchase for co-workers, Secret Santa exchanges, and that form of factor. A bunch of oldsters responded with nice concepts, so I figured I’d share some:

• Power banks. Give the present of battery energy.
• Scratchers. Everybody loves a enjoyable lottery ticket!
• Local present playing cards. Plenty of people mentioned I shouldn’t simply do Starbucks for everybody, however ought to assist individuals discover and check out new native spots. I like this concept.
• Coffee. Forget the present playing cards, simply purchase them a pound of excellent espresso.
• Candles. Is a candle too, like, intimate for an acquaintance? I don’t know! Probably not! But I do love a great candle.

These concepts have already made my vacation buying simpler — let’s simply say loads of people in my life are getting some scratchers this 12 months. Hope this helps you, too. And when you’ve got different concepts, hold ‘em coming. I want all of the gifting assist I can get.