Wordle’s creator made a fun new puzzle game

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Plus, in this week’s Installer: a new Sonos speaker, a huge Apple history book, the Bigfoot emoji, and much more.

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Hi, friends!

Welcome toInstallerNo.

119, your guide to the best andVerge-iest stuff in the world.

(If you’re new here, welcome, hope your agents are well, and also you can read all the old editions at theInstallerhomepage.)
This week, I’ve been reading aboutPixar’s futureandflight MH370andsports gamblingandYouTube Face, finally digging intoDungeon Crawler Carlafter you recommended it so many times, hopingRoosterkeeps being as good as its premiere, buying aMacBook NeoI definitely didn’t need, redesigning myObsidiansetup toJames Bedford’s specifications, testing theFairbuds XLheadphones, and putting away all my winter clothes — only to drag them out again because it started snowing.

Good times.

I also have for you a new game to add to your daily list, an enticing new Sonos speaker, a huge new book about Apple’s first half-century, a fun new way to YouTube, and much more.

Let’s get into it.

Over the last few months, I’ve been hearing from a lot of you that you want to see how other people are using AI.

Their tools, their setups, the stuff they’re building, everything.

What a good andInstaller-y idea!

So in this space, not every week but certainly from time to time, we’ll swap homescreen sharing for AI sharing.

First up:Brian Lovin, who works as a designer at Notion and is also a prolific developer and designer on the side.

(If you checked outShiori, the bookmarking app I mentioned here a couple of weeks ago, you’re already familiar with his work.) Brian and I jumped on a call the other day to talk about his setup and how he gets it all done.

Here’s a screenshot he sent me, for when he’s AI-ing from mobile:
The first thing Brian told me about was a prompt he loves, which he attributed to Notion cofounder Simon Last: “Step back and think really hard.

How can we make this simpler and dumber while still achieving our goals?” He says he uses that prompt 20 times a day with AI coding agents.

I kind of love it.

With the caveat that his setup is changing all the time, here are some apps Brian says he loves for AI work right now:
Right now, Brian told me, he’s spending most of his side-project time doing back-end coding with AI and front-end work himself.

(He pointed out that Claude Code in particular has a very specific, purple-gradient-y style, and says it’s harder to coach the bot in the right direction than to just do the work himself.) But like so many other folks I’ve talked to, he says he’s continually surprised by how much better AI coding tools are getting.

In three months, his whole setup might be different again.

Here’s what theInstallercommunity is into this week.

I want to know what you’re into right now as well!

Emailinstaller@theverge.comor message me on Signal — @davidpierce.11 — with your recommendations for anything and everything, and we’ll feature some of our favorites here every week.

For even more great recommendations, check out the replies tothis post on Threadsandthis post on Bluesky.

“I’m finally starting to understandAndroid Studio.

Maybe I have too many options and tools (Claude, Gemini, Manus, Firebase Studio, Android Studio, Replit, whatever else is in my inbox).

But I’m getting there.

Trying to create a notes/ to-do app where notes with tasks show up on my to-do side with a link to the note while taking advantage of Gemini Nano on my phone with sync to my Google Calendar and Tasks.

Podcast app next.” — Omar
“My current obsession isCosmic Princess Kaguya, which is playing in theaters all over Japan even though it’s been on Netflix for a month.

Nothing beats sitting in a crowded room full of fans and watching a great film.” — Bea
“Just discoveredAll Creatures Great & Small.

It’s about a small, rural veterinary practice in 1930s Great Britain.

It’s endlessly wholesome, surprisingly moving, and unflinchingly British.

I’m streaming it on PBS.” — Zac
“Been thinking about this Maggie Appleton essay,‘Home-Cooked Software and Barefoot Developers,’a lot recently!” — Jacob
“I have a book rec I think you’re gonna love:The Prize.

This book does a fantastic job of covering oil from start to now, and with it, lays out the economic background of oil then and now, the history of Western companies vs.

national ownership and production, and why our modern society absolutely orbits around an energy-dense consumable fuel.” — Christopher
“I’m readingThe Power Brokerand listening to the99% Invisiblecompanion podcastwith Roman Mars and Elliott Kalan.” — craigkocur
“Have you triedRematch?

It was released almost a year ago now, and it’s still my favourite football-related game.” — Eldar
“For the person looking for MP3 taggers for all the music they’re ripping off CDs, I would suggest:MusicBrainz Picardor (if you enjoy the command line)Beets.” — Daryl
“I can’t say enough good things aboutMistas an AI health and fitness companion.

It’s an AI chatbot but it’s ONLY focused on health.

It’s super minimalist and clean.

It has its own stats built in but it also syncs with Apple Health and other health services.

It’s cheaper than a Gemini subscription and has an active and responsive developer as well!” — Justin
I don’t know if it’s just my particular YouTube algorithm, but it really seems like paper notebooks are having a moment.

All the productivity nerds I follow aresuddenly recommendingtheirfavorite analog systems, andsharing the waysin whichwriting longhandhas made themfeel sanerand also get more done.

I love this idea, but I have two problems: My handwriting istrash, and I don’t know which notebook to buy.

I assume this means I need to buy a bunch of pens and notebooks, because gear will solve these problems, right?

RIGHT?!

Anyway, I need recommendations.

If you’ve gone analog, or have been that way all along, I’d love to hear the gear you picked.

Someday, maybe, I’ll even be able to read my own writing.

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