Google Gemini, Lego Fortnite, and everything else to try this week

Hello, pals! Welcome to Installer No. 17, your information to one of the best and Verge-iest stuff on the earth. Should you’re new right here, welcome, so psyched you discovered us, and in addition, you’ll be able to learn all of the previous editions on the Installer homepage.

I even have for you a brand new Mastodon app, a bunch of recent AI instruments, an entire new Fortnite universe, an espresso maker, and way more. And I’ve some ideas about messaging. Let’s dig in.

(As at all times, one of the best a part of Installer is your concepts and ideas. What apps are you into proper now? What have you ever learn or watched or eaten or performed or constructed lately? Inform me all the things: installer@theverge.com. And if you recognize another person who may take pleasure in Installer, ahead it to them and inform them to subscribe here.)

• Google Gemini. Speaking to Google CEO Sundar Pichai this week, I got the distinct sense that he sees the brand new Gemini mannequin because the second Google begins to win the AI warfare. Is he proper? Who is aware of! Gemini actually has its points. However you’ll be able to play with it now in Bard and on the Pixel 8 Pro, and it’s coming to Google merchandise all over the place actually quickly.
• Beeper Mini. What a saga this was! The common messaging app launched a brand new app for Android that did one factor — let you send blue-bubble iMessages — and did it nicely. So nicely, it appears, that Apple shortly figured out a way to shut it down. I don’t assume we’ve seen the final of this back-and-forth.
• The Artificial podcast series. I feel each reporter I do know is presently digging into the historical past of OpenAI, making an attempt to determine how this weirdly structured group got here to be the most important factor in synthetic intelligence. This episode of The Journal (the primary in a four-part collection, I feel) is the clearest origin story I’ve heard up to now.
• Mammoth 2. I’ve used numerous Mastodon apps, and that is my new favourite. Mammoth is nice-looking and quick but in addition actually dedicated to serving to you discover good folks and posts on the platform. It’s just for Apple gadgets, which is a bummer, however it’s a very nice app.
• Resident Evil 4’s VR Mode. You can argue that Resident Evil video games have been one of the best factor in VR for a very long time. Now, PSVR customers are getting a fairly full VR model of Resident Evil 4, which is likely one of the greatest video games within the collection and was remade as probably the greatest video games of the yr. I’d want to purchase a PSVR for this.
• Lego Fortnite. I performed numerous OG Fortnite lately and truly cherished the sport minus all of the tie-ins and branded stuff. However this is something else: an enormous new island and virtually a wholly new sport inside Fortnite. I’ve solely performed it a bit, however it’s very cool.
• Digital Foundry’s Grand Theft Auto VI trailer breakdown. Have you ever watched the GTA VI trailer but? Statistically talking, I feel everybody on earth already has. And if you happen to’re as enthusiastic about it as I’m, you’ll love this 37-minute, absurdly deep exegesis of virtually each body and pixel we’ve seen up to now.
• Disney Plus with Hulu. Disney’s mixed streaming service is now in beta testing, which suggests you may begin to see a Hulu tab inside your Disney app. Fast Company has a fun story on all of the sudden challenges of shoving two providers collectively like this, however in the end, it seems fairly easy. Hulu is a channel; Disney Plus is the cable bundle. That’s the place we’re headed.
• Visual Electric. A brand new and intelligent riff on AI picture technology — this one provides you all types of dynamic management, so as an alternative of prompting and re-prompting, you’ll be able to tweak your photographs virtually as if you happen to’re in Photoshop. It additionally has auto-complete options as you sort, which has led me down some deeply bizarre rabbit holes.

I’ve recognized Dan Seifert a very long time, and I can’t keep in mind a time when he has solely had one telephone. That is partly an occupational hazard: Dan runs The Verge’s opinions group, so his residence appears to ceaselessly resemble a terrifying cross between a Greatest Purchase and a FedEx warehouse. However Dan’s additionally only a multiple-device type of man, as a result of the opposite factor I can’t keep in mind is when there was one gadget that did all the things he wanted. 

I requested Dan to share his homescreen with us, barely petrified of what number of screenshots I’d get again. (Dan’s additionally a “obtain all of the apps within the app retailer” type of man, similar to me.) Considerably miraculously, he solely despatched me two. Effectively, three, relying on the way you depend a foldable. 

Listed below are Dan’s homescreens, plus some data on the apps he makes use of and why:

The telephone: Apple iPhone 15 Professional.

The wallpaper: This modifications relying on my Focus mode, however my present Work Focus has the Apple Astronomy wallpaper for Jupiter, which seems cool and was my favourite planet as a child. Everybody had a favourite planet as a child, proper?

The apps: I like helpful widgets, so I at all times have a big one taking on a superb chunk of my display. It’s a widget stack, so I can flick via issues like my calendar, to-do checklist, Siri Strategies, and climate. That is the homescreen I exploit for my Work Focus mode, so numerous the time, the stack is exhibiting Fantastical, which I like as a result of it blends each calendar appointments and to-dos from my Todoist checklist in a single view, whereas giving me a fast date and month calendar overview. Beneath which can be Slack, Reeder for RSS, Artifact, and Apple Information, the latter three of which I exploit to maintain up with information all through the day. 

You’ll see that I’ve two to-do checklist apps right here as a result of, for some time, I used to be making an attempt to see if I might make Apple Reminders work for me. I can’t, and I at all times fall again on Todoist, my one true to-do checklist app love. I ought to in all probability take away Reminders at this level, however I haven’t found out one other app to place there but, and I just like the symmetry of two full app rows. My residence row is tremendous boring, however Outlook stays one of the best electronic mail app on the iPhone, combat me.

The telephone: Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 5. 

The wallpaper: One thing I discovered within the Backdrops app, one of the best wallpaper app for Android, that I believed regarded cool. I don’t actually get to see all of it that always, although, as a result of I crap my homescreen up with a lot stuff, however oh nicely.

The apps: The Fold 5 lets me set totally different layouts for its internal and outer screens, and also you guess your ass I make the most of that. The outer display is optimized for stuff I entry most frequently whereas on the go, and as soon as once more, widgets and widget stacks play an enormous position right here. The highest widget stack has: calendar, to-do checklist, battery, Samsung’s model of Siri Strategies (which works about in addition to Apple’s model, learn into that nonetheless you’d like), and the Alexa procuring checklist we use for groceries.

Beneath that’s one other widget stack with media widgets for Pocket Casts, Apple Music, Sonos, and my Galaxy Buds 2 Professional controls. Then a 3rd widget beneath that’s for the Samsung Climate app, which has a useful insights factor that got here within the One UI 6 / Android 14 replace. I’ve acquired some folders for music apps, good residence controls, and information apps like Artifact and Google Information. FocusReader is my RSS app of alternative on Android that I plug my Feedly account into, and I obsessively test the Play Retailer for app updates all through the day, so there’s a shortcut to take me proper to it subsequent to the climate widget. Then there’s the ever present Google Search widget that may now launch apps — in order that’s largely what I exploit it for — and my type of boring residence row with a folder for a number of messaging apps since Beeper Mini got here out. Outlook is one of the best electronic mail app on Android, and Samsung Web is one of the best browser on Android, combat me twice.

The internal display is optimized for the issues I do on a much bigger display, so there are much more apps and folders. I’ve acquired a books folder and a read-later folder for all of the studying apps I exploit on my Fold, which is likely one of the main issues I do with it, plus social media time wasters like Megalodon for Mastodon, Threads, and Instagram. The calendar widget is a stack, in fact, and I’m experimenting with the massive battery widget, which is extra helpful when I’ve my earbuds related and might see their standing in it, too. Residence row is boring once more, however I took the telephone app out of it as a result of I don’t actually take calls with the Fold open.

I additionally requested Dan to share just a few issues he’s into proper now, aside from continually sustaining hundreds of telephones and widget stacks. Right here’s what he shared:

• I’ve been studying the Silo trilogy of books a couple of decade late, and I’m a couple of third of the best way via the final one, Dust. I cherished the present on Apple TV Plus earlier this yr, and I’ve been actually having fun with the books, which have related vibes, even when the story doesn’t line up 1:1 with the present.
• There’s lastly a new season of Fargo airing now, and I like it. I’m extraordinarily right here for the Jon Hamm-aissance this yr; he was nice in the latest season of The Morning Show, too.
• I caught a MagSafe ring sticker to the again of my Z Fold 5 just a few weeks in the past, and it opened up an entire world of enjoyable equipment I can share between my iPhone and it. Grips, kickstands, chargers, and batteries all work nice, however my favourite is the hack I did by gluing a second MagSafe ring to the sleeve for an S Pen, and now I’ve a removable S Pen holder with no cumbersome case.

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 along with your suggestions for something and all the things, and we’ll characteristic a few of our favorites right here each week. 

“I used to be simply launched to the Canadian ‘board sport’ Crokinole, and it’s fairly rad. The boards are the dimensions of a small desk.” – Tom

“Throwback to an earlier Installer that introduced up Omnivore as a read-it-later service. I’ve since moved all of my newsletters (together with Installer) over to Omnivore and out of my customary electronic mail inbox. Having newsletters in a devoted reader app not solely cleans up my electronic mail but in addition is a a lot better format — and it has high-quality AI text-to-speech to learn them to me.” – Nicholas

“Godzilla Minus One was incredible and deserves consideration from those who haven’t been historically enthusiastic about kaiju motion pictures.” – Luke

“Scott Pilgrim Takes Off is an alternate story to the unique comics. The forged from its film adaptation is again. Mix that with the anime-like animation, and you’ve got the proper binge-watch for the weekend.” – Bahadir

“The Vergecast jogged my memory that this little device has related my Nest gadgets to Apple HomeKit for over three years with out breaking as soon as. I forgot I even used it in my setup.” – Chris

“Informed. It’s a kinda new information app. Seems to be tremendous clear. Articles don’t refresh as usually as I’d like. Nonetheless rocking with it although.” – Omar

“Utilizing DuckDuckGo / Firefox Relay to take away trackers from emails and clear up hyperlinks. Helpful for newsletters or procuring web sites.” – Lucens

“Been loving the espresso I’ve been making this week with my new Wacaco Picopresso.” – James

“I’d wish to advocate NowPlaying. This app is probably the most stunning method to detect enjoyable particulars about any track, album, or artist.” – Hidde

I’m writing to you this week from Las Vegas, the place one of many yr’s nice sporting occasions is going down. No, not that one. Not that one, both. Sure! It’s the Excel World Championships! There’s an enormous neighborhood of outstanding Excel customers on the market, and so they get collectively periodically to make use of spreadsheets to unravel puzzles. It’s rising quick and is a surprisingly enjoyable spectator sport — it even went type of viral after exhibiting up on ESPN final yr.

Should you’re studying this on Saturday, you’ll be able to watch the finals live tonight on YouTube (search for me within the crowd!). Should you’re not seeing this till Sunday, head over to the Financial Modeling World Cup’s YouTube page, and you’ll see all of the competitions from this yr. It’s nerdy, it’s thrilling, and I like it a lot. If solely I knew what a VLOOKUP was, I’d be unstoppable.