I have a new go-to browser

is editor-at-large and Vergecast co-host with over a decade of experience covering consumer tech. Previously, at Protocol, The Wall Street Journal, and Wired. Posts from this author will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed. Hi, friends! Welcome to Installer No. 129, your guide to the best and Verge-iest stuff in the world. (If you’re new here, welcome, come on you Gunners, and also you can read all the old editions at the Installer homepage.) This week, I’ve mostly been sick, which has meant nearly a full rewatch of Parks and Recreation while alternately napping and feeling bad for myself. But I’ve also been reading about Nick Fuentes and clowns, listening to old episodes of Short History Of, testing the NextSense Smartbuds while I sleep, writing in the Outerline Markdown app beta, and eagerly looking for things to do with the upcoming Flipper One. Today’s issue is a little short since I’ve been out, but I didn’t want to leave you completely hanging. Plus, it’s a good week, including my favorite new browser in years, a new Star Wars movie, two great new tech books, a surprisingly great set of earbuds, and more. Let’s do it. (As always, the best part of Installer is your ideas and tips. What are you reading / watching / listening to / playing / streaming over a hotspot from the beach this week?

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.) The Drop Crowdsourced Here’s what the Installer community is into this week. I want to know what you’re into right now as well! Email installer@theverge.com or message me on Signal — @davidpierce.11 — with your recommendations for anything and everything, and we’ll feature some of our favorites here every week. For even more great recommendations, check out the replies to this post on Threads and this post on Bluesky. “Got an Oculus Go at a thrift store for $10. Most of the apps are nonexistent except for YouTube, and it’s surprisingly… fine? I wonder if the future AI wearables will be useful for a long time; Apple devices seem to be the only group that are still usable even after half a decade.” — Allen “My mom gave my son a Stickerbox for his 9th birthday. My kids and their friends have spent many hours collectively making stickers for everything and everyone. I love that it embraces simplicity while still making a toy with AI and a screen. Also great that there’s no subscription!” — Matt “A Man on the Moon by Andrew Chaikin is one of the best nonfiction books I’ve listened to in a long time. I don’t often run to books anymore, but I maintained my race cadence listening to the Apollo 11 moon landing section.” — James “I’m going to be experimenting this weekend with a couple of Google Docs alternatives — Writer and Ellipsus — and working on the slog to transition away from Gmail (I’ve had my account since you needed an invite).” — Wintersong “I bought a new pair of headphones this month: the Sony WH-1000XM5.

They’re amazing, and the sound quality feels incredibly professional.” — Seb “​​You recommended a cable last week, and it inspired me to tell you about the Allroundo Eco cable from Vonmahlen; a short, coiled USB-C to USB-C cable in a little case. But what makes it special is it also includes USB-A, microUSB and Lightning adaptors in the case. I don’t know what the rated speed of this cable is for power or data delivery, but it’s such a brilliant package that I’ve used for years now that it’s a moot point to me!” — Mitch “Almost done with Light Bringer (Red Rising book 6) on my Xteink X4!” — Tynan “Been messing about on Record Club, a European indie selling themselves as the Letterboxd of music. I wish they had a section for your vinyl / CD / cassette collections, but it’s a really nice site and the new social-sharing images are a lovely touch.” — comicallytinyhat “Rewatching Scavengers Reign because it’s coming off Netflix at the end of the month!” – Fry “After a few years of bouncing between multiplayer games we’d try for like six weeks and then drop, me and the homies have a standing Monday-evening Diablo IV date, which has been amped up by the new Lord of Hatred expansion.” — Luis Signing off This was the last week of Stephen Colbert’s run on The Late Show (and also the end of The Late Show, politics politics, late night TV is dying, anyway, moving on), and for my money the brightest silver lining of the whole saga was that the Strike Force Five gang got back together.

If you don’t remember: Strike Force Five was a podcast started by five late-night hosts during the writers strike in 2023, and produced at least one episode (Strike Force Wives!) that made me laugh so hard I had to stop listening for a while. Anyway, the guys got back together for one more episode to celebrate Colbert’s run (plus a long hang on Colbert’s show), and it is predictably delightful — and made me think I should start wearing a suit for every Vergecast episode. Might be weird to do in my basement studio, though. Lots to think about. See you next week!