Super simple gadget that tries to replace your phone

Hello friends! Welcome to us Installers No. 42, your guide to the best and eve– The best things in the world. (If you’re new here, welcome, so psyched you found us, and you can also read all the back issues at Installers the main page.)

I also have a new minimalist phone for you, a book to read, a documentary to watch, a fun hack for your Rabbit R1 and much more. Let’s get into it.

(As always, the best part of Installers it’s your ideas and advice. What are you playing, reading, downloading, buying or marveling at this week? What are you into that everyone else should be into? Tell me everything: installer@teverge.com. And if you know someone else who might enjoy it Installerstell them to subscribe here.)

• Easy phone 3. The new version of one of the best minimalist phones comes with a better screen, a camera, an NFC chip and some big ambitions to replace your phone. I don’t think I’m physically capable of giving up my smartphone, but I love this thing so much.
• Apple passwords. We’ll talk a lot more about all of Apple’s WWDC announcements as they roll out, but this is worth thinking about for now: Apple’s apparently well-integrated cross-platform password app looks really good. It might be time to start compiling all your passwords and keys.
• Associated with the moon. Robin Sloan is one of my favorite writers on the internet and both of his previous books were excellent. This, a deeply meta-sci-fi epic, looks to be the weirdest yet – and I mean that in a good way.
• How music became free. For people of a certain age, this Paramount Plus doc will feel like reliving some formative years—remember Napster and Kazaa and LimeWire and how the Internet completely broke the music industry? So many fun stories in this one.
• House of the Dragon season 2. I admit I didn’t really get into it House of the Dragon last season, but so many people have told me they’re excited for the new guy starting this weekend that I feel like I have to catch up to be ready. It feels like everyone will be talking about it on Monday.
• “I installed Android on Rabbit R1 and made it useful.” The top comment on this video simply says, “They accidentally made a big dumb.” It’s kind of true! The R1 is a fun gizmo that runs crappy software; as a small Android tablet, I confess that I love it again. I also took mine out of the drawer to try it myself.
• Yahoo News. Yahoo acquired and shut down Artifact earlier this year. This was sad. This is better: some of that recommendation technology is back in Yahoo’s new news feed, which has tons of customization, stripes, badges, and all kinds of goodies. I am using Yahoo again! Who would bite!
• “Inside Disney’s ‘Area 51’, where lightsabers and other technology are invented.” Lanny Smoot seems like an extremely cool person with an extremely cool job, and this video does a great job of showing off all the wild, futuristic things he and Disney are working on for the company’s theme parks and products. others. Give me that treadmill now.
• Ghost. This is a week old, but like 100 of you recommended it this week, so I’m making an exception. (Thanks to everyone who told me about this!) It’s a really oddly structured show, and you definitely can’t half-watch this, but I’m digging it so far.

Andrew Liszewski has long been one of my favorite bloggers on the internet. He spent years in Gizmodo writing about the weirdest, funniest, dumbest, coolest things on the web, and I’ve obviously spent thousands of dollars on stuff just because he wrote about it.

Now, Andrew works for threshold! This was his first week and he’s already on Slack causing chaos. It’s the best. I asked him to share his home screen with us to see if I could get any tips on how he cleans the web. He didn’t reveal all his secrets, but I know more about the weather in Canada now, so that’s something.

Here’s Andrew’s home screen, plus some info on the apps he uses and why:

Phone: iPhone 12 Pro (with a battery that is feeling its age).

Wall paper: I like a very minimalistic background under my apps, but since I find that solid black makes the screen too reflective, I created a subtle custom blue gradient that I’ve been using for the past five years. (For my lock screen, I’m using one of the Mikael Gustafsson scenes of dreamlike nature.)

Applications: Google Calendar, Clock, Photos, Camera, Google Home, Google Photos, Find My, Instagram, Google Maps, WeatherCAN, Nest, Google Chat, Settings, Watch, Chrome, Apple Books, 1Password, App Store, Apple Notes, Phone, Gmail , Messages, Apple Photos.

My iPhone’s home screen is where all my daily driver apps live. These include Instagram, Google Home, the old Nest app (which includes functionality for my Nest thermostat that I can’t find elsewhere), Chrome, 1Password (which solved my password woes once I finally got around to it), IMDb, Paprika 3, the remote countless smart home devices and most importantly, the Environment Canada weather app so I know when to cut the grass before it rains. I’m obsessive about cleaning up notifications on my home screen, but I’m happy to have them piled up on the second screen, where I like to keep all my other installed apps accessible.

I also asked Andrew to share some things he’s into right now. Here’s what he sent:

• I’m a big fan of retro games and recently added the mini game Anbernic RG28XX to my ever-growing collection of handheld emulators. The Game Boy Micro remains one of my favorite devices of all time, but with the RG28XX, I can leave all the cartridges at home.
• Our house is a little obsessed with reality shows Aloneand we’re pretty excited to dive into the season 11 premiere this week.
• I just finished reading Bill Hammack’s (aka “Engineer Guy“on YouTube) book, The things we dowhich includes fascinating deep dives into the engineering of everything from medieval cathedrals to how the microwave was invented.
• When I’m struggling to sleep, nothing calms my brain down faster Joe DIY Instagram account, which features videos of detailed restorations of classic egg-shaped toys. Give it a shot. Watching a rusty dump truck turn into a bright yellow Tonka toy is extremely satisfying.

Here’s what it is Installers community is in this week. I want to know what you are at the moment too! 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 each week. For more recommendations than I could fit here, check out the answers to it this post in Topics.

“I just came across this Australian company called Juicy crisps that specializes in creating custom motherboard replacements for older iMacs that allow people to easily repurpose them as monitors. And they did one for the iMac G4! Trust me when I tell you I’ve never hit a ‘buy’ button so fast (lol). Anyway, I ordered one a few months ago and recently swapped it into my 20 inch G4, and it worked like a charm! I plugged it into an M1 Mac Mini I had and now I’m using an iMac G4 again like it’s 2004.” – Ryan

“I LOVE my Surface pad, I love typing on the screen (I’ve done it for 14 years, tbf) and I hate tapes on my Apple devices. I’m obsessed with this magnetic back cover with a stand for my iPad. Could only get it from Amazon Germany but they shipped to New Zealand for free. Bad result.” – Brandon

“Your mention of Inbox Ten makes me think you’d appreciate Tony Hsieh’s Yesterbox method, which I have used successfully for years!” – Deb

“I liked making a diary Diary, especially since it’s completely private and local. If you want to sync between devices, you can use a cloud sync of your choice — it can even sync read-only with apps like Fitbit, Instagram, Strava, and more. to add everything you’ve done for the day to your journal entry.” – Michael

“I recently subscribed to Scott Belsky’s implications newsletter, and I’m sure everyone interested in the future of technology and culture should too.” – Ricky

“I just discovered the app Crutton for collecting recipes, and is much better at scrubbing a URL for the actual recipe. You can even take a photo of a cookbook page and it will generate the recipe. Probably the best example of a real-world use for AI I’ve come across so far.” – JT

“I’m enjoying the new one MLB Morning Lineup podcast. Each episode is 10 minutes or less, and summarizes the previous day’s results and news. It’s been a great way to catch the best of sport.” – Mario

“I’m trying Star Wars: Hunters on iOS after it finally launched. It’s a PVP arena fighting game and I’m loving it so far. The hunters are all unique and fun, it’s not too heavy on the pay-to-play stuff, and it’s extremely good for a quick game. It’s not perfect (the UI is atrocious), but it’s a good start.” – Matt

“Puzzmo just added a new game to their catalog, Pile-Up Poker, and it’s stellar.” – Luke

“My friends introduced me to this Call of Duty-as a shooter who is apparently very popular in India. called Free Fire Max. The reason for its popularity is its ability to work on any device.

You must try it. The graphics are average, but the experience is great.” – To Rudraj

I posted on Threads a few days ago that my number one productivity hack is to take a 25-minute nap in the middle of the day. This caused a lot of people to have feelings and ask questions, even though I am completely right. (It’s just science. I don’t make the rules.) But for all the people who asked for advice, here are mine.

The perfect 25-minute nap involves three things. First, realizing that even if you don’t sleep, lying there with your eyes closed for 25 minutes is still very relaxing; not stressing about sleep makes it easier to sleep. Second, an episode of a TV show I’ve seen before (I do a lot Parks and Recreation) can make it easier to calm my brain and sleep. Third, I put on my smartwatch and set the alarm there; waking up to a buzz of your wrist is infinitely better than a booming sound. Sleep is great, naps forever, happy naps, everyone.