Hello, pals! Welcome to Installer No. 19, your information to one of the best and Verge-iest stuff on this planet. (When you’re new right here, welcome, so psyched you discovered us, and likewise you’ll be able to learn all of the previous editions on the Installer homepage.)
It’s the final Installer of the yr, so we’re going to do one thing a little bit totally different! We’re going to speak about all our favourite issues of 2023. Some floor guidelines / disclaimers: this record just isn’t exhaustive, not all the pieces in right here is new this yr it’s simply new to us, this isn’t an Official Listing of Each Single Good Factor That Exists, and most significantly, if there’s one thing lacking that you just discover outrageous and unacceptable you recognize the place to seek out me: [email protected] and (203) 570-8663 on all of the messaging apps.
Due to everybody who despatched stuff in, I found so many cool issues which might be going to inevitably take over my life in 2024. And hopefully you discover some stuff right here too! I do know I say this each week, but it surely’s all the time true: one of the best a part of Installer is your concepts and suggestions. What are you into proper now? What apps / video games / motion pictures / podcasts / sacred rituals / philosophical musings do you would like everybody appreciated as a lot as you? Inform me all the pieces: [email protected]. (And if you recognize another person who may get pleasure from Installer, inform them to subscribe right here.)
Oh, additionally! The Verge has an incredible 2023 in overview sequence working proper now, which you need to take a look at. This was the yr of Fitbit and Google, of Matter and the sensible residence, of Recreation Move video games and Hulu exhibits and arthouse motion pictures and a brand new social net. Don’t miss any of it.
That’s sufficient preamble, let’s simply dive in. My favourite issues, and yours, of 2023. Pleased Holidays, pals, right here we go!
David’s favourite issues
One purpose I really like engaged on Installer is that it consistently forces me to strive new issues. I’m all the time watching and studying and downloading stuff I wouldn’t in any other case, which is horrible for my Netflix algorithm however in any other case extraordinarily enjoyable.
Quite a lot of that stuff comes and goes — a few of it’s terrible, far more of it’s positive however type of transient. Simply not sticky for me, you recognize? However a bunch of stuff this yr graduated from “I’ll try it out” to one thing extra. That’s what this record is: in no explicit order the stuff I found in 2023 that I’m nonetheless utilizing, speaking about, and recommending right now.
- Quantity Go Up. The most effective tech ebook I learn this yr, and certainly one of my favourite “the future is weird” books ever. It’s an journey story and a monetary investigation, and I completely devoured it. Crypto is much more weird than you assume.
- Ray-Ban Meta Sensible Glasses. Two days with this stuff, and I used to be satisfied that sensible glasses are going to be a factor. They’re already my go-to gadget for telephone calls on the go and are changing my headphones increasingly more.
- Kagi. I’ve tried all the major search engines, and I all the time ended up again at Google — till Kagi. It’s non-public, it’s quick, it’s tremendous customizable, it’s a little bit ugly however I’m getting over that, and it’s the primary search engine I’ve tried that feels simply nearly as good as Google.
- Shrinking. I laughed, I cried. I did each these issues a number of instances on a aircraft whereas binge watching this present, which actually confused the individual subsequent to me. It’s a winner from starting to finish.
- Anytype. It’s like Notion, solely offline-first and tremendous quick. Which seems to be precisely what I used to be searching for. It’s additionally in beta, and has a steep studying curve, however now it’s set as much as assist me run principally my complete life. For now, anyway.
- Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Amongst Thieves. This was not the yr of Severe Films in my life — it was the yr of “the baby’s finally asleep, what fun silly thing can I watch?” This was one of the crucial enjoyable and one of the crucial foolish. I liked it.
- Chip Battle: The Battle for the World’s Most Essential Expertise. A historical past of the chip trade, which can be a narrative about startups and geopolitics and all of the issues on this planet you don’t consider as “technology” however very a lot are. Miller’s look on The Ezra Klein Present was additionally certainly one of my favourite podcast interviews of the yr.
- Tremendous Mario Bros. Surprise. It’s most likely not the greatest sport of the yr, but it surely’s definitely the one I performed essentially the most. It’s an ideal mixture of previous concepts and new ones, playable however difficult, and endlessly (like, endlessly) replayable.
- A hybrid charger. The one greatest quality-of-life tech improve I made this yr was to purchase an Anker gizmo that’s each a wall charger and an exterior battery. It prices my gadgets, after which itself, so subsequent time I don’t have an outlet it nonetheless prices my telephone. Recreation changer.
- Beef. This present had a second, however I nonetheless don’t assume sufficient individuals noticed it. It’s such a weird premise, however one of many funniest and best-written issues I watched this yr. I simply rewatched the entire present in two days.
- Mimestream. I haven’t opened Gmail’s ugly and cluttered net app in months, and I don’t miss it a bit. I’m horrible at e-mail, and this Mac app has made me a lot better at it — right here’s hoping an iOS model exhibits up in 2024.
- Twos. My unending quest for the right to-do record app led me to this app, which is each tremendous easy — only a record of stuff you write down — and extremely intelligent. Cross-platform, free to make use of, and bettering actually quick. I’ve been utilizing all of it yr.
- BlackBerry. No one believes me once I inform them to see this film! Nevertheless it’s glorious, no matter whether or not you care a lick concerning the BlackBerry story.
- Google Bard. Undoubtedly not the AI software I’d have guessed would find yourself right here. However the factor I exploit chatbots for many is discovering stuff — in my e-mail, my paperwork, YouTube, the online — and Google is simply higher at that. Bard’s unhealthy at lots of stuff, but it surely’s a strong search engine.
- 1Password. I’ve been utilizing this app for years, however I actually went all-in in 2023. Now all my two-factor codes, all my passkeys, all my necessary paperwork reside right here — and centralizing all that stuff in a single place I belief has made my on-line life quite a bit simpler.
- Working it Out. This and Search Engine are the 2 podcasts that entered my “listen to every episode no matter what” record this yr. Listening to comedians inform jokes, speak about jokes, and take into consideration life and course of, is simply perpetually enjoyable.
- Tubi. A stunning quantity of my TV watching time is now taking place on Tubi, as a result of it’s simply straightforward: I don’t need to log in or seek for something. I simply open the app and stuff begins taking part in. (The BBC Earth channel will get lots of airtime in my home.)
- Spine. Most of my phone-gaming time is both distant taking part in my PlayStation or taking part in foolish driving video games. The Spine controller makes each higher and is tremendous straightforward to attach and carry round. Now I simply have to seek out some new video games to play.
- The Roku Voice Distant Professional. I’m on report about how unhealthy I believe all set-top containers are, however this distant? This distant guidelines. A headphone jack for personal listening, a helpful voice assistant, a bunch of pretty buttons — it nearly makes my stupidly gradual sensible TV bearable.
- It Was a Sh*t Present. This and Sizzling Ones are most likely the YouTube sequence I speak about essentially the most. The channel chronicles the making of exhibits and flicks, and all of the methods they go spectacularly, hilariously incorrect. The Arrested Improvement double characteristic is superb (and is how I discovered the channel), however nearly each video here’s a winner.
Your favourite issues
Thanks once more to all people who shared their favourite issues over the past couple of weeks! I received so many extra responses than I may match right here — in order for you a bunch extra suggestions right here’s a bunch on Threads and a bunch on Mastodon.
A couple of names confirmed up most frequently, so particular shouts to the unofficial high 5:
- Arc. My favourite browser, no query, and clearly I’m not alone.
- The Steam Deck. A lot of us received into handheld gaming this yr, it seems, and this was by a mile the most-recommended gadget in my inbox.
- Scavengers Reign. One in all The Verge’s favourite exhibits of the yr, and positively certainly one of yours as effectively.
- Artifact. The new new factor in information apps! I’ve been getting a little bit aggravated with all of the muddle and AI stuff not too long ago, but it surely’s nonetheless an effective way to seek out new stuff.
- Omnivore. An app for studying articles, newsletters, PDFs, and principally all the pieces else. It’s a little bit of a power-user software, but it surely’s a very good one.
Now for the precise suggestions, from everywhere in the Installerverse:
“I’m currently on month 8 of what was supposed to be a six-month deployment. I have a love-hate relationship with the Wi-Fi that was installed just before we left. With that said, because we have Wi-Fi access (sometimes) the Shonen Jump app and subscription has been my favorite app. When the ship’s Wi-Fi works, I can download and read offline up to 100 chapters of manga at a time. I’ve used it to relive a bit of my childhood by reading through all 700 chapters of Naruto and discover new stories like Demon Slayer and One Punch Man.” — Chris
“Citizen Sleeper really, REALLY hit the right vibe for me this year. It came out last year, but I had a lot of downtime Jan-April this year, as I was on medical leave and then recovering from an appendectomy. I read all of Murderbot (more than once, and the most recent one just came out in November!) and got deep into Citizen Sleeper and the ennui and pessimistic optimism (optimistic pessimism?) that both franchises share worked just right for me.” — Zoe
“The Town podcast from Matt Belloni. The best source of Hollywood and entertainment news. Excellent guests, every episode is a banger.” — Myke
“Arc browser definitely took over all my computers this year. It was pretty impressive to see something take Chrome and Firefox on in a big way.” — Knowledge
“I travel A LOT. I’ve been working remotely in Costa Rica for 6 months of the year, and then when I’m back in the States, I’m all over for work and family. This Anker Nebula Capsule projector has been a GAME CHANGER. You never know when your Airbnb or hotel will have a shitty little TV. This thing makes any wall a giant screen, has a decent built-in speaker, and it’s TINY — like can of soda tiny — so I don’t even notice it in my carry on. Oh, and built-in apps, no need for an external streaming device or laptop.” — Mitch
“My biggest time investment had nothing to do with tech. It was a physical trading card game called Flesh and Blood! So good. Really gets your brain working and is highly addictive.” — Thore
“The Villa by Rachel Hawkins is like Almost Famous meets a thriller murder mystery. A fantastic book that’s stuck with me most of the year! Also, the show Jury Duty is a must-watch for any fan of The Office / Parks and Rec. A truly new take on a modern sitcom or reality show.” — Tyler
“I’ve been getting tired of Apple Music misorganizing my music collection, so I finally started a Plex Music library to go with my TV and Movie libraries. Turns out they have a great mobile app called Plexamp that creates awesome radio stations from my library.” — Michael
“The Artifact app that I actually got from you guys at The Verge. It’s such a better scrolling experience from Instagram and I find as it learns who I am it is getting better at recommending stuff to me.” — Vishal
“My favorite thing of 2023 has been JustWatch. The sad demise of Netflix’s DVD business — yes I was a subscriber — motivated me to find a new place to track the obscure movies I like, and JustWatch is solving the problem. My watchlist filtered by streaming services I subscribe to: ‘Things I want to watch, available to me right now.’” — Ron
“TickTick. So many random things need to get done daily, from random house work, gentle reminders, to dos… if I don’t put it in TickTick, chances are that I will forget to do it at all.” — Omesh
“My new years’ resolution was to listen to more albums. To that end, Musicboard has been a great companion, sorting the stuff I want to hear, allowing me to rate / write a few thoughts about them, and also having a community of reviewers. It’s a simple app but it helped me a lot!” — Nathann
“Book: Barbarians at the Gate. Old book; new to me. Made me better understand seemingly wacky Wall Street things, like why banks helped Elon buy Twitter. It’s probably all about the FOMO and fees. Thing: Garmin Instinct 2X. I ran my first couple of miles for over 10 years in June. And a little more than 13 miles last week. This watch helped me find my inner runner. Cool look, awesome battery life, and an unexpectedly useful flashlight.” — Robert
“Slow Horses on Apple TV Plus is excellent. Really enjoyed the games Dead Cells and Vampire Survivors on various platforms.” — RoBo
“My favorite thing of 2023 was Rude Tales Of Magic, an RPG podcast that, while older than 2023, had its final episode of its first campaign. Now that it has a beginning, middle, and end, I feel better recommending it to people! It’s hilarious, well-edited, and doesn’t resemble D&D — in a good way for listeners.” — Hunter
“2023 for me was the Year of (Brandon) Sanderson. Remember his record-break-breaking Kickstarter for four secret novels? Well, this was the year they all got delivered monthly. I have enjoyed opening the swag boxes each month and reading a LOT of his books. I fell in love with his work when I read Mistborn a few years ago, but this Kickstarter really kickstarted (heh) a deep dive into his bibliography and it was so worth it. 10/10 would recommend.” — Doug
“MUBI and MUBI GO! It was Apple’s TV app of the year. Here in the UK, MUBI GO is £18.99 a month to access a streaming platform AND get a free cinema ticket a week (MUBI picks the film — normally a great pick, last week was Godzilla Minus One). It’s my favorite subscription.” — Chris
“This was a year I got back into reading in a real way, and one of my favorite books (and almost definitely my favorite book from this year) was Doppelganger, by Naomi Klein. Essential reading IMO!” — Jeanne
“The Steam Deck has been my personal favorite tech thing of 2023. I bought the cheap one and upgraded the internals so it scratched that long dormant itch. I can hook it up to my monitor and use it like a desktop computer which is super useful for… emulation things. And finally, it feels so good in the hands to play (and it gives me access to my entire Steam library!). It has been a long time since I’ve been this delighted by a device.” — Scott
All proper, pals, that’s it for Installer in 2023. We’ve received some large plans for subsequent yr, and I’m so grateful to everybody who has subscribed, commented, shared suggestions, gotten very mad at me for not together with sufficient Android apps, and reached out to say you’re having fun with Installer. Hold the suggestions and suggestions coming, have a beautiful remainder of your holidays, and see you in 2024!