is a news editor covering technology, gaming, and more. He joined The Verge in 2019 after nearly two years at Techmeme.
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Hi, friends! Welcome to Installer No. 93, your guide to the best and Verge-iest stuff in the world. (If you’re new here, welcome, I’m sad the sun is setting sooner, and also you can read all the old editions at the Installer homepage.)
I also have for you some AI news from OpenAI, a bug-filled new season of Fortnite, a Site of the Year competition, 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, forward it to them and tell them to subscribe here.)
The Drop
OpenAI’s GPT-5 : OpenAI’s next major AI model is finally out. The company promises it has “state-of-the-art performance” across many different types of work and is “significantly less likely to hallucinate” than its previous models. You can try it out right now in ChatGPT, even if you’re on the free plan. OpenAI’s next major AI model is finally out. The company promises it has “state-of-the-art performance” across many different types of work and is “significantly less likely to hallucinate” than its previous models. You can try it out right now in ChatGPT, even if you’re on the free plan.
OpenAI’s GPT-OSS : Ahead of GPT-5, OpenAI also made a splash with the release of GPT-OSS, its two new open-weight models that you can Ahead of GPT-5, OpenAI also made a splash with the release of GPT-OSS, its two new open-weight models that you can run on a laptop . Having the power of an OpenAI model, with the privacy of a local model, is perhaps an even more compelling option.
Roku’s Howdy : This new subscription service has “thousands of titles” available ad-free for $2.99 per month. It’s a lot of older stuff — when I wrote this, the website featured things like Dirty Dancing, Reservoir Dogs, and Weeds — but for no ads and a way cheaper price than a lot of other streaming services, I could see this being a huge hit. This new subscription service has “thousands of titles” available ad-free for $2.99 per month. It’s a lot of older stuff — when I wrote this, the website featured things like Dirty Dancing, Reservoir Dogs, and Weeds — but for no ads and a way cheaper price than a lot of other streaming services, I could see this being a huge hit.
TP-Link’s Wi-Fi 7 BE3600 Travel Router : This Wi-Fi 7 travel router seems like it could save you some wireless connection hassles while on a big family trip. It works with up to 90 devices at once, which I’m guessing will be more than enough for most families. This Wi-Fi 7 travel router seems like it could save you some wireless connection hassles while on a big family trip. It works with up to 90 devices at once, which I’m guessing will be more than enough for most families.
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