The AI search engines are here — and getting better

Hi, friends! Welcome to Installer No. 59, your usher to the champion and Verge-iest worldly successful the world. (If you’re caller here, welcome, truthful psyched you recovered us, and besides you tin work each the aged editions astatine the Installer homepage.) 

I besides person for you immoderate absorbing caller AI hunt products, immoderate caller Apple gear, a mates of documentaries to ticker this weekend, a calendar app for Windows, and overmuch more.

Oh, and acknowledgment to everyone who reached retired astir the Omnivore acquisition. Which sucks. I heard from a batch of folks wondering wherever to spell next, and since I consciousness partially liable for getting immoderate of you into an app that is present dying, I’m gonna assistance you fig it out! But I request help: what astir Omnivore, oregon immoderate different speechmaking app, bash you 100 percent need? Tell maine your desires and I’ll spot if I tin constituent america each successful the close direction.

All right, tons to bash this week. Let’s go.

(As always, the champion portion of Installer is your ideas and tips. What bash you privation to cognize much about? What awesome tricks bash you cognize that everyone other should? What app should everyone beryllium using? Tell maine everything: installer@theverge.com. And if you cognize idiosyncratic other who mightiness bask Installer, guardant it to them and archer them to subscribe here.)

The Drop

Screen share

A fewer weeks ago, I went to New York City and wandered into a java store called Coffee Check. It was started by a feline named David Cogen, who you mightiness admit arsenic the look of TheUnlockr YouTube channel. At the opening of this year, aft much than a decennary arsenic a creator, helium decided to unfastened a java shop. And inactive support being a creator. Somehow.

I spent an hr with David talking astir each this, which turned into a truly amusive occurrence of The Vergecast. But I near David inactive wondering however helium balanced it each — and wondering what I mightiness beryllium capable to archer astir his priorities from his homescreen. So I asked him to share!

Here’s David’s homescreen, positive immoderate info connected the apps helium uses and why:

The phone: Pixel 9 Pro. I ever power afloat into immoderate telephone I americium making a video about, and arsenic I americium precise down connected reviews (see the Vergecast occurrence for much connected that), that’s the adjacent 1 connected the docket.

The wallpaper: The 1 that comes connected the telephone by default. I power phones truthful often that I usually don’t alteration the wallpaper unless it’s obnoxious. In that case, I’ll inactive drawback thing minimalistic from Google’s Wallpapers app (maybe a scenery to punctual maine what extracurricular looks like).

The apps: Spotify, Phone, Gmail, Chrome.

I mostly person the multiple-clock widget, arsenic it automatically shows maine my existent clip and clip backmost successful NYC, which I find incredibly adjuvant portion traveling arsenic overmuch arsenic I do. Otherwise, the tools conception has Notion, which I’m a dense idiosyncratic of aft Evernote got worse and worse implicit clip — it has replaced that, on with Airtable. 

That folder has since expanded precocious acknowledgment to the java store arsenic I present person Homebase for scheduling my baristas, Poplin to get our cleaning rags picked up and delivered, Shopify for inventory / POS / income / obsessive information analyzing, Ring for each the cameras successful the abstraction and to marque definite beverage deliveries amusement up connected clip successful the mediate of the nighttime (we usage a work called Odeko, which has a cardinal and brings supplies successful / puts the beverage successful the fridges for us), and Peerspace to marque definite I tin respond to inquiries to rent retired the backmost space.

I besides asked David to stock a fewer things he’s into close now. Here’s what helium sent back:

Crowdsourced

Here’s what the Installer assemblage is into this week. I privation to cognize what you’re into close present arsenic well! Email installer@theverge.com oregon connection maine connected Signal — @davidpierce.11 — with your recommendations for thing and everything, and we’ll diagnostic immoderate of our favorites present each week. For adjacent much recommendations, cheque retired the replies to this station connected Threads.

“I saw you had Coffee Golf connected your iPad Mini homescreen. It has IAP and is truly conscionable ok. You’d beryllium amended disconnected trying Golf On Mars. It’s the somewhat much polished mentation of Desert Golfing by the aforesaid developer. Best quick-play play crippled ever.” – Casey

“The communicative astir Arc sunsetting successful favour of a caller browser kicked maine into cogwheel connected uncovering a caller home. I saw a remark connected the Verge story that mentioned Zen Browser, pitching it arsenic feeling similar Arc but built from Firefox. I gave it a shot, and I emotion it!” – Tom

“I’ve been playing with antithetic web browsers again. It came down to Brave and Vivaldi to effort arsenic a regular operator for a while, but I’ve settled connected Vivaldi. Loving it. It is overmuch snappier than the past clip I tried it, positive it has the vantage of Chrome extensions and plentifulness of customization portion locking down privacy. I deliberation I’ve recovered my caller web browser.” – Josh

“I’m a Letterboxd junkie for logging movies and this week I recovered a truly bully app for logging TV watching! It’s called Marathon. The plan of the app is niiiiiice.” — Garrett

“Started playing Rivals of Aether II, a caller indie level combatant similar Super Smash Bros., and it’s *so* overmuch fun. Learning curve is steep, but it’s truthful worthy it.” – Anuj

“Loving the caller play of Shrinking connected Apple TV Plus. I don’t often get emotional, but they’re sidesplitting it (and me. Not definite I privation to spot wherever the begetter / lad storyline goes). Big recommend.” – Matthew

“Redownloading Raindrop aft the demise of Omnivore. Luckily I saved my config for the Obsidian plugin truthful it’s been an casual switch.” – Tynan

“Caught arsenic overmuch of the World Series arsenic I could, but the Apple Sports unrecorded enactment was awesome for keeping way erstwhile I couldn’t ticker it.” – Justin

“I’ve been speechmaking the Red Rising series due to the fact that of 1 of my coworkers. The mode that you get sucked into the characters and that each publication builds connected the erstwhile ones, it has go 1 of my favourite bid that I can’t urge enough.” – Travis

Signing off

It’s Election Day connected Tuesday! Wild, important, fascinating, terrifying, causing maine to consciousness a batch of feelings. But 1 happening I unequivocally emotion astir predetermination play is simply a caller acceptable of reporting astir immoderate of the alien and much annoying quirks of the American governmental process. Do you hatred each the governmental texts? The Wall Street Journal has a amusive investigation into however they work, The Washington Post has good tricks for turning them off, and our friends astatine Vox did a large podcast astir however they became specified a scourge. Elsewhere, Cleo Abram made a large video astir wherefore you can’t ballot online, which is simply a question that keeps coming up.

See you adjacent week!