SocialAI is a social network where everyone except you is a bot.

Hello, friends! Welcome! Installer No. 53, The Best Guide edge– The coolest things in the world. (If this is your first time here, welcome. We’re so glad you found us. You can also read all the previous versions here. Installer (This is the homepage.)

This week I read about ~ Beyonce and Rosanna Pansino and Bowen Yangpour my life again Todoist, Watch the end Grand Tour, catch up on some things My brother, my brother and me Watch the episode, pixel recorder The app can replace my trusty voice recorder and is portable. Headspace Go to my home screen and see if I can meditate more. (So far… no.)

Plus, we’ve got some really cool new AR glasses, a Batman show on HBO, a great new book about the end of Twitter, a fun twist on the social network, and so much more. There’s a lot of great new TV this week! Let’s get started.

(As always, the best part is Installer Here are your ideas and tips. What are you excited about right now? What should other people be reading/playing/watching/buying/downloading/building with Lego right now? Let us know: installer@theverge.com. And if you know someone else who might like it, InstallerPlease pass this on to them and tell them to subscribe here.)

• Social AI. The response to this “social network” for iOS, where you post something and thousands of AI bots immediately reply, was hilarious. Some people liked it, some people hated it, and half of them thought it was a joke. It’s not a joke, it’s actually a really thoughtful look at how you interact with your LLM. It feels surprisingly similar to what you’re used to on real social networks these days. Maybe even better.
• Character Limit: How Elon Musk Broke Twitter. A great addition to the canon of books about Musk taking over and reorganizing the social network we knew. There are also a lot of great new details about the chaos of becoming X. A really good read.
• Simple Snapchat. I would like to suggest you to buy new products from Snap. glassesBut they are ridiculous and also not affordable for normal people. But you ~ will do You’ll get a new design for Snapchat. It’s much cleaner and more accessible than the app has been in recent years. I’m not sure if it’ll bring in a lot of new users, but Snapchat is still one of the best messaging apps out there.
• Bose QuietComfort Earbuds. The AirPods 4 got all the attention this week, but I’ve always been a fan of the Bose earbuds. They sound great, have good battery life, and I love the new “Hey Headphones” wakewords on the new model. And at $179, they’re a solid Apple alternative.
• Omni loop. Reviews of this time travel movie starring Ayo Edebiri and Mary-Louise Parker say the continuity obsession can be frustrating, but it’s got great, thoughtful content and a lot of fun. I’ll be watching it as soon as I can.
• Penguin. Just say “HBO’s gritty Batman show” and you’ll know The Penguin is a thing. Reviews so far have been a bit mixed. Some have called it “the best show ever” and others “not so good”, and many have compared it negatively to The Sopranos. Personally, I can’t wait.
• Tripsy 3.0. I’m planning on doing a lot of traveling this fall, so I’m looking for a good place to put all my confirmation numbers, flight details, and expenses. Tripit is fine, but Tripsy looks much better. I also like the map view. It’s surprisingly useful for planning my day.
• Agatha Ollong. WandaVision is the only Marvel show I would recommend to people who aren’t interested in Marvel because the whole plot is so unique and clever. This spinoff sounds equally creative and cool. It’s always nice to see more of Kathryn Hahn.
• UFO 50. A bunch of developers in 2024 decided to make a game that looked like it was from the 1980s. What they made was a sort of historical document of games, but it’s just a really fun retro game. It’s a really cool concept.
• “Mark Zuckerberg Interview.” You probably saw the photo last week. Acquire Podcast hosts interview Zuck at the Chase Center in San Francisco. The resulting 90-minute episode is… awkward in places, but really revealing in some ways. I don’t think I’ve ever heard Zuckerberg talk about his history as CEO like this.

Alex GoldmanA brilliant podcaster and former co-host of the best tech podcast of all time. Reply to allThere’s a new show! It’s called that. HyperfixedAnd basically Alex’s job is to solve all kinds of people’s problems. The first two episodes are silly and deep, and this show is going to be great.

I asked Alex to share his home screen with me as the new show begins. If there’s one thing I know about Alex, it’s that he’s a man of many interests and obsessions (I’ve always enjoyed his posts about the songs he’s made in his attic, to give you one example). I was curious to see what his phone would say about what he’s doing right now.

Here’s a look at Alex’s home screen and the apps he uses and why.

wallpaper: Here’s a photo of kids having fun at the beach.

App: Camera, Weather, Settings, Notes, App Store, FaceTime, Amazon, Proton Mail, Find My, Overcast, Patreon, Koala, Messages, Google Voice, Gmail, Safari.

I know my home screen is a mess, but I gave up trying to organize it a long time ago. I’ve reached a point where I’m stuck in a quandary of not knowing where everything is, and it’s been a while since I’ve downloaded a new app that I absolutely need.

Everything you need is on the first page. From games to workout apps, TV and music apps, social media platforms, etc. Some of the apps I use most are Notes (I create a to-do list every morning), Voice Memos (it’s really handy for recording ideas or good melodies long before they come to me) and 3 pieces. 3 pieces It’s a game where you merge blocks of the same number to fill up the playing field, and I haven’t really gotten any better in the last 3-4 years, but I still play it about 4 times a day. It’s just a nervous habit. And Overcast is a podcast app. Everything else sucks by comparison.

I also asked Alex to share a few things he’s interested in right now. Here’s what he sent me:

• Pinball Map. I love pinball. But being a pinball lover means being picky about pinball and liking certain games more than others. For me, the Midway/Williams pinball games of the mid-90s were a renaissance. So I’m constantly on the hunt for copies of Attack From Mars, Medieval Madness, Twilight Zone, Monster Bash, Creature from the Black Lagoon, and Bride of Pinbot. Luckily, Pinball Map helps me find them.
• Koala. Koala is an incredibly powerful sampler app. You can record sounds directly from your phone, load sounds, or extract sounds directly from videos. It has almost all the features of the classic Roland SP-404 sampler, but those cost $500, while Koala costs about $5.
• Erica Synth’s LXR-02. A cheap handheld drum machine that lets you load sounds or create sounds. I’m just a guy making little beats on public transportation.
• Pay attention to WFMU’s blog. A blog for a non-profit radio station in New York City that closed almost a decade ago but is still full of fantastic obscure recordings, comics, and weird cultural stories. Probably most famous as the only place you can find stories about how Paul Simon stole so many songs. Graceland From Los Lobos.

Here is the following: Installer The community is interested this week. We want to know what you are interested in now too! Email Installer@theverge.com Or, send me a message on Signal (@davidpierce.11) with any recommendations and I’ll feature some of my favorites here each week. For more great recommendations, check out the answers below. This post is in a thread.

“It’s funny that you mentioned Short Film YouTube just three days after I discovered the channel, which is a treasure trove of horror. Vintage 8Created by Paul Catalanotto, a film professor at the University of New Orleans. Some of his most popular videos include: Tangi virus, oracle projectand human trialIt’s also more conveniently interconnected than other videos on the channel.” — Drake

“Heald This is the best historical novel I’ve ever read. Game of Thrones But if you IRL(ish) like Tolkien’s references to the ancient languages ​​of Britain/Anglo/Saxon/Old Norse, you’ll love this book.” — Christopher

“Caravan Sandwich “A wonderful and cozy game. It applies to everything and is really lovely.” — Iain

“I played while playing Notebook LM At Google. One of the fun but useful use cases is taking research papers and turning them into podcasts. As an engineer, I read a lot of complex ML papers, so I convert them into podcasts and listen to them on my commute. It’s definitely an interesting TTS application.” — Kruti

“In a recent newsletter, someone recommended: No roll bar It’s a YouTube channel but I didn’t mention the best content. Blood of the Clock Tower. A social reasoning game for 7-20(!!) players, created by The Pandemonium Institute. Think of it this way: Werewolf or mafiaBut it’s more fun. There’s endless content on YouTube that I can’t stop watching, and I like to throw a big party for it.” — Greg

“Caitlin Dewey’s newsletter is out as the tab for today is down. Link I think we could chat if we were friends It has become my most trusted curated reading list. (And don’t miss her excellent 10-year memoir on G*mergate.)” — Kevin

“After years of loyalty, 3 thingsI bit the bullet and moved on. Todoist. Natural language input is a big factor, but I’m tired of long lists in Things. Todoist’s Kanban divides everything up nicely, but I miss Things’ UI.” — Scott

“It was really great to follow along. Rocket Jump Help write, plan, and produce an independent action comedy film on Patreon! They go really in-depth on everything from location planning to studio pitch decks.” — Josh

“I can’t stop playing Astrobot. It feels like a love letter to 30 years of PlayStation, and as a lifelong PlayStation fan, every level brings a smile to my face.” — Nick

On Wednesday, I attended the Made on YouTube event in New York City (the crowd consisted of me and about 200 other super cool and fun creators). CEO Neal Mohan and other executives showed off some new features. But forget about the new features. The absolute highlight of the event was the singer/songwriter/creator. Di4bdAfter talking about his AI project, he released his popular song “Come here with me.” It was really great, and I’ve been reading and watching his videos ever since. Here they are. big GQ interview With many details about his story, Here’s his TikTokand Here is his YouTube channel.

To be fair, D4vd is already so popular that I may be the last person to discover it, but I wanted to share it just in case. I’m a huge fan.