Monument Valley 3: a worthy replace to a superb cellular sport

Hello, associates! Welcome to Installer No. 64, your information to the most effective and Verge-iest stuff on this planet. (For those who’re new right here, welcome, prepare for some bizarre documentaries, and likewise you may learn all of the outdated editions on the Installer homepage.)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 Nice 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 sport, an E Ink pill value a glance, a beautiful new to-dos app, and rather more. It’s a unusually Netflix-centric week, which is odd for mid-December? However so it goes. Let’s dive in.

(As at all times, the most effective a part of Installer is your concepts and suggestions. What are you watching / studying / enjoying / baking / listening to / soldering this week? Inform me every thing: 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 sport collection of all time. It’s beautiful, quiet with out being ponderous, and infinitely replayable. Even the soundtrack is certainly one of my all-time faves! It’s a bit odd to say “you must have a Netflix subscription to play this sport in your cellphone,” 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 together with your actual associates, and connecting with of us who’re on the town. Strikes me as type of… area of interest? However intelligent. And since Fb 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 way in which you need.
• The Supernote A5 X2 Manta. Dumb title, actually cool-looking new E Ink pill. $459 is quite a bit 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 absolutely already know this about me, however I’m a sucker for a phenomenal app. And this one, a combo calendar / duties / behavior tracker for iPhones, is without doubt one of 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. Primarily based on the terrific, brutal novel of the identical title, the film is filmed nearly completely in first-person views. And it appears to work. Lots of people assume that is going to win lots of awards — don’t miss it.
• “Behind the scenes calling the Simpsons Monday Evening Soccer Sport.”  I by no means completely obtained the attraction of those animated facet 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 all over the place on my feeds the previous few weeks. It additionally is perhaps the brand new document holder for freely giving the entire thing within the trailer. However I’ll nonetheless be watching it this weekend — right here’s hoping it’s good, and Christmas-y, and may go within the Die Laborious vacation canon.

Did you subscribe to The Verge but? You don’t must with the intention to get Installer, however you must anyway! I’m not remotely biased, and I believe it’s a reasonably good web site. And we now have massive plans.

Esther Cohen is the individual making all these plans, and making them actual. She’s been working like loopy the previous few 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. What number of subscriptions does the subscription director have, you recognize? Inquiring minds need to know.

Right here’s Esther’s homescreen, plus some information on the apps she makes use of and why:

The wallpaper: An image of my (very massive) children 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 top it makes me need to cry.

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

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

The underside 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 heart is a lifesaver. I are inclined 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, understanding, cooking, and many others. Oh, and I just lately moved social media apps off my residence display — it’s been a game-changer for my stress and focus.

I additionally requested Esther to share a couple of issues she’s into proper now. Right 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!), but it surely’s heartfelt, humorous, fantastically written and shot, and by no means saccharine.
• Taking part in: Mahjong! The youngsters and I play a couple of instances every week throughout dinner, and it’s so stress-free. I even have the Actual Mah Jongg app on my cellphone. It would truly be the one app I pay for?
• Listening: Molière: Le Spectacle Musical. Hear me out: final 12 months, TikTok saved 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.
• Studying: The Atlantic. This may cement my primary girly standing, however I just lately subscribed to The Atlantic and — actually? — each single story is so good. Currently, I’ve been considering quite a bit about what makes a publication value paying for, and I like that I genuinely need to learn nearly every thing on their homepage and social feeds.

Right here’s what the Installer neighborhood is into this week. I need to know what you’re into proper now as nicely! E mail installer@theverge.com or message me on Sign — @davidpierce.11 — together with your suggestions for something and every thing, and we’ll characteristic a few of our favorites right here each week. For much more nice suggestions, try the replies to this put up on Threads and this put up on Bluesky.

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

“My favourite music-to-work-by web site is myNoise. I notably like ‘Medieval Library’ and ‘Medieval Village’ (with turned-down blacksmith’s clang). It’s free to make use of, however when you toss the fascinating French sound engineer obsessive Stephane a couple of dollars 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 sport, 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 how you can take day trip of your busy schedule to concentrate on deep work. It additionally offered how you can minimise distractions and lower down shallow work.” — Ankur

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

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

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

“I wanted an affordable pair of earbuds whereas I anticipate the AirPods Professional 3. I purchased the Baseus Bowie MA10 and so they work higher than I might ask for. They do precisely what I would like 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 Home windows gaming handheld, in order that I can get the most effective of each worlds.” — Benny

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

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

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

• Energy banks. Give the present of battery energy.
• Scratchers. Everyone loves a enjoyable lottery ticket!
• Native present playing cards. A number of of us mentioned I shouldn’t simply do Starbucks for everybody, however ought to assist folks discover and take a look at new native spots. I like this concept.
• Espresso. Overlook 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! In all probability not! However I do love a great candle.

These concepts have already made my vacation purchasing simpler — let’s simply say lots of of us in my life are getting some scratchers this 12 months. Hope this helps you, too. And if in case you have different concepts, hold ‘em coming. I would like all of the gifting assist I can get.