GoKawiilis 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. 140, your guide to the best and Verge-iest stuff in the world. (If you’re new here, welcome, don’t forget to hydrate, and also you can read all the old editions at the Installer homepage.)
This is my last Installer before heading out on parental leave! Thanks to everyone who has sent well wishes and sleep tips. I need them all. For the next several weeks, you’ll be in the very good hands of Jay Peters, and I’ll be back in early October. For now, though, I also have for you the new phone hotness from Google, a shockingly good dinosaur movie, a look at the Chinese tech industry, and much more. Let’s do this.
(As always, the best part of Installer is your ideas and tips. What are you watching / reading / playing / listening to / packing in a cooler 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
The End of Oak Street . A little bit Wizard of Oz, a little bit Jurassic Park, a premise that nobody expected to work that apparently completely, totally, 100 percent works! This seems to be everybody’s pick for the surprise hit movie of the summer, and I cannot wait to see it. A little bit Wizard of Oz, a little bit Jurassic Park, a premise that nobody expected to work that apparently completely, totally, 100 percent works! This seems to be everybody’s pick for the surprise hit movie of the summer, and I cannot wait to see it.
Unforgetful . Marco Arment likes the Apple Reminders system but . Marco Arment likes the Apple Reminders system but doesn’t like the Reminders app itself, so he built a better one — and wow is it a better one. With the better notifications and snoozing, plus a design I much prefer, I think this could be all the to-do list a lot of people need.
The Google Pixel 11 . Look, I don’t think this is the most exciting year in Pixel history. (And the Galaxy Z Fold 8 is still the most interesting phone of 2026.) But Google has the best take on Android, the most useful AI tools, and in this case some really thoughtful ideas about smartphone cameras. If you’re going Pixel this year? I’d start with the base model. Look, I don’t think this is the most exciting year in Pixel history. (And the Galaxy Z Fold 8 is still the most interesting phone of 2026.) But Google has the best take on Android, the most useful AI tools, and in this case some really thoughtful ideas about smartphone cameras. If you’re going Pixel this year? I’d start with the base model.
Lanterns . Speaking of surprises! “Let’s do more Green Lantern stuff” is a sentence no one has said in a very long time. But a gritty, buddy-cop drama brought to you by Damon Lindelof appears to be just the thing this story needed — I’m pretty hard to hook on a superhero story, honestly, but I’m signing up for this one.
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