is a news editor covering technology, gaming, and more. He joined The Verge in 2019 after nearly two years at Techmeme.
Hi! Welcome to Installer No. 89, your guide to the best and Verge-iest stuff in the world. My name is Jay Peters, and I will be taking care of Installer while David is on parental leave. All of us here at The Verge are very excited for him and his family, and he’ll be back later this year.
It’s a huge honor to be writing this. I look forward to Installer every week to see what awesome things David is obsessed with and what you all are into. (Thanks to everyone who sent over their favorite non-famous apps to get me started. Keep reading for some of those!) I’m really excited to keep the party going. (If you’re new here, welcome, and also you can read all the old editions at the Installer homepage.)
This week, as I am at around this time every year, I’ve been obsessed with the annual Summer Games Done Quick speedrunning marathon. If you’ve never watched, the event is an annual, weeklong, always-on livestream of people playing video games at an extremely high level to raise money for charity. Throughout the week, I’ll tune in when I have a moment and then find myself watching somebody obliterate a beloved classic or a game that I’ve never heard of.
The show, which you can watch for free on Twitch, typically ends very early in the morning on Sunday, and you can watch replays on the Games Done Quick YouTube channel. My two favorite runs so far have been a Beat Saber showcase and a nail-biter Cuphead race. (If you have any suggested runs I should watch, let me know — maybe I’ll feature them in a future Installer!)
Anyway, let’s dive in. This week, I have for you some new Samsung foldable phones, a check-in with the developer of one of the great Reddit apps, and more.
(As always, the best part of Installer is your ideas and tips. What do you want to know more about? What awesome tricks do you know that everyone else should? What app should everyone be using? Tell me everything: [email protected]. And if you know someone else who might enjoy Installer, tell them to subscribe here. It’s free, and you get it a full day early!)
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If you followed the Reddit protests in 2023, then you probably recognize the name Christian Selig. He was the developer of the beloved Apollo for Reddit iOS app, but he became a central figure of the protests because Reddit’s API changes were going to be so cost-prohibitive that they forced him to shut Apollo down.
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