is editor-at-large and Vergecast co-host with over a decade of experience covering consumer tech. Previously, at Protocol, The Wall Street Journal, and Wired.
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Hi, friends! Welcome to Installer No. 112, your guide to the best and Verge-iest stuff in the world. (If you’re new here, welcome, I hope your home is warmer than mine right now, and also you can read all the old editions at the Installer homepage.)
I also have for you a new Star Trek show to get into, Apple’s new creative suite, a reboot of an old social network, a new Claude Code-adjacent tool worth trying, and much more. Lots going on here in mid-January! Let’s dive in.
(As always, the best part of Installer is your ideas and tips. What are you watching / reading / listening to / playing / building / putting AA batteries into this week? Tell me everything: [email protected]. And if you know someone else who might enjoy Installer, forward it to them and tell them to subscribe here.)
The Drop
Animal Crossing: New Horizons 3.0 . The latest addition to New Horizons brings a bunch of quality-of-life improvements that seem to address a lot of the things fans have been wanting for years. A perfect excuse to get back into a cozy, relaxing, quieter world than the one we live in right now. The latest addition to New Horizons brings a bunch of quality-of-life improvements that seem to address a lot of the things fans have been wanting for years. A perfect excuse to get back into a cozy, relaxing, quieter world than the one we live in right now.
The Rip . Everything about this movie — the overly stacked cast, the somewhat tired plot, the fact that it’s a Netflix action movie and those are always bad — suggests this movie would be bad. But apparently Everything about this movie — the overly stacked cast, the somewhat tired plot, the fact that it’s a Netflix action movie and those are always bad — suggests this movie would be bad. But apparently it’s really good ! This is my kind of action movie, and first on my list this weekend.
Apple Creative Studio . This is kind of an astonishingly good deal? I’m not particularly into the AI features in Numbers and Pages, but between Pixelmator Pro, Logic Pro, and Final Cut Pro, you have a set of creative tools right up there with what Adobe offers. I agree with everyone else, though: Apple needs a Lightroom competitor to make this really shine. This is kind of an astonishingly good deal? I’m not particularly into the AI features in Numbers and Pages, but between Pixelmator Pro, Logic Pro, and Final Cut Pro, you have a set of creative tools right up there with what Adobe offers. I agree with everyone else, though: Apple needs a Lightroom competitor to make this really shine.
A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms . Another round in the Game of Thrones universe, this one is a prequel with a very different, Another round in the Game of Thrones universe, this one is a prequel with a very different, much sillier vibe . It also seems to have much lower stakes, which seems smart — not everything needs to be about the fate of the universe, you know?
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