Readwise Reader is the final word app for studying the web

Hello, associates! Welcome to Installer No. 18, your information to the very best and Verge-iest stuff on the planet. (When you’re new right here, hey, pleased holidays, and in addition you possibly can learn all of the outdated editions on the Installer homepage.) 

This week, I’ve been combing this checklist for brand new board video games to strive, studying concerning the NFL’s obsession with ping pong and the rise of chess influencers and the wacky historical past of Yahoo Pipes, watching Lupe Fiasco totally clarify how rap works, testing Anytype as a Notion various, attempting to determine tips on how to justify shopping for myself a Lego Polaroid, and including Us to all my phrases on Threads to welcome my European associates. 

I even have for you a brand new option to play Grand Theft Auto, some new AI-powered note-taking and journaling instruments, new stuff to observe this weekend, a glance into the creator financial system, and far more.

I even have a query. We solely have yet one more Installer this 12 months, so I figured now’s the time to do it: what was your favourite factor of 2023? I promise I received’t maintain this to, like, a authorized customary of that is your solely favourite perpetually. However whenever you look again on the final 12 months, what new present / guide / weblog / app / creator entered your life that you simply’re significantly pleased about? Inform me one, or two, or three! Doesn’t need to be new this 12 months, simply new to you. E mail [email protected], or textual content / WhatsApp me at (203) 570-8663, and inform me every part. All issues Favorites, coming your manner in two weeks.

(As at all times, the very best a part of Installer is your concepts and ideas. What do you wish to know extra about? What superior tips have you learnt that everybody else ought to? What app ought to everybody be utilizing? Inform me every part: [email protected]. And if you wish to get Installer in your e mail inbox a day early, subscribe right here.)

The Drop

The NPR app. When you gave me $100, I couldn’t let you know the distinction between the NPR One app and the NPR app, or why they each existed. Fortunately, they don’t anymore! There’s simply the brand new and good NPR app, which does a superb job of each curating tales into newsy playlists and simply enjoying the exhibits I’m searching for. The GTA trilogy on Netflix. Netflix’s gaming providing is changing into actually spectacular, actually rapidly. When you’re a subscriber, you now have free entry to a bunch of excellent video games, together with three all-timer GTA titles: San Andreas, Vice Metropolis, and GTA III. They’re outdated, however they nonetheless rip.Finalist. One of many niftier to-do checklist apps I’ve seen shortly. My fundamental problem with Finalist firstly was I hated the colour selections. With the brand new model, you possibly can design the app any manner you need! And it’s nonetheless a super-simple and fairly intelligent duties system.How A lot I Make on TikTok vs Shorts vs Reels from Hank Inexperienced. No one explains the creator financial system like Hank Inexperienced. (When you’ve by no means seen his rant towards TikTok and creator funds, go watch it.) That is an unusually trustworthy, and type of bleak, take a look at how a lot cash there actually is on this recreation and the place it comes from.Journaling Options in Day One. Once I wrote about Apple’s Journal app — which is out for everybody now in iOS 17.2! — I stated that Journaling Options, the API that combs via your photographs, actions, places, music, and extra to give you stuff to journal about, was probably the most intriguing a part of the product. Day One, my favourite journaling app, now integrates Options proper into the app. It really works rather well.Epic’s vacation sale. This is likely one of the higher “free video games!” offers you’ll discover: Epic is freely giving a collection of older titles over the course of the vacation season. Proper now it’s the Future 2: Legacy Assortment, which is a large quantity of Future content material — and there are 16 extra video games left to assert. I’ll be maintaining a tally of this one over the following few days. The brand new Apple TV app. Day by day, I swear, my Roku TV will get just a little slower. And every single day, I get just a little nearer to simply plugging in an Apple TV. I actually like what Apple’s attempting to do with this app — common search, cross-platform suggestions, straightforward shopping for and renting — regardless that it’s lacking Netflix and some different necessary companies. NotebookLM. Google’s AI-powered notes app nonetheless doesn’t have many options, and I nonetheless don’t completely perceive why it’s not only a characteristic of Maintain or Docs… but it surely’s a nifty app nonetheless. Add your docs, summarize them, ask questions on them, make finding out or researching just a little simpler.Xbox Cloud Gaming on Quest 3. This is likely to be the very best motive but to purchase a VR headset. When you’re a Sport Cross subscriber, now you can join your controller, hearth up an enormous digital TV, and play video games from anyplace. That is going to change into a part of my bedtime routine manner too rapidly. 

Deep dive

For a extremely very long time, Instapaper was the most-used app on my telephone. (This was again within the pre-TikTok period, once I spent extra time studying and fewer time scrolling. However let’s not dwell on that change.) I learn so much for work, I’ll learn any movie star profile anyplace, and I’m perpetually searching for a greater option to handle all of the stuff I’ve to learn.

This 12 months, type of by chance, I wound up doing a tour of all the very best choices. And excellent news, there are a bunch of them! Instapaper continues to be nice; Matter is attractive; Omnivore is tremendous highly effective; Upnext is doing a little intelligent AI stuff; even Pocket nonetheless does the job, although I dislike loads of its current design adjustments. We’re form of spoiled for selection on this division.

However I’ve discovered the one for me, at the very least for now. It’s Readwise Reader, which works on iOS, Android, and the net. It’s nonetheless technically in beta however is already completely indispensable in my life and workflow. Right here’s a couple of the explanation why:

Reader can deal with every part. It can save you articles, add books, add movies, import RSS feeds, subscribe to newsletters, and extra. The app does a extremely good job of sorting issues into the suitable locations, so that you’re not simply caught with an enormous mass of stuff. However it may possibly parse, retailer, and set up virtually something of any file kind, and I like it for that.It’s greater than only a queue. The very first thing I liked about Reader was the homescreen, which exhibits you classes like “fast reads,” “lengthy reads,” and “not too long ago added.” There’s additionally a Digest characteristic that simply grabs a bunch of stuff you’ve saved and tells you to learn it in the present day. I attempt to get via my digest every single day, and so I’m truly studying stuff I saved greater than ever.It’s additionally type of a note-taking app. Readwise’s authentic shtick was to compile all of your notes and highlights from locations like Kindle and Pocket right into a searchable, reviewable archive. With Reader, I can spotlight something I add, or any reside webpage altogether, and every part goes into that very same notes archive — all of which may sync to Notion, Obsidian, or different note-taking apps, too. All my studying, and all my notes, now reside in the identical place.You may… learn… video. I watch loads of YouTube, for, uh, journalism. Reader provides a (good however not excellent) transcript to each video you save, so you possibly can spotlight and take notes similar to on an article. Every little thing will get time-stamped, too, so you’ll find it later. It’s so useful.It’s tremendous quick. One motive I’ve stopped utilizing Reader prior to now is that the app was type of sluggish. A kind of apps that at all times felt prefer it was working, what I imply? However not too long ago it has been slimmed down and sped up, and now it feels fairly zippy — besides when it’s loading the AI voice to learn an article aloud, which takes perpetually, however I don’t take care of that characteristic a lot anyway.

I solely have two ongoing points with Reader, actually. One, it’s not probably the most enticing app; it feels extra Productiveness Device than Stunning Studying Area, ? (I hate the app icon, too. Fingers crossed there’s a greater one coming.) And two, it truly might need too many options for my style. You may add tags, there’s an Inbox and a Feed and Library and a Later and an Archive, there are 1,000,000 Views, simply determining the place every part goes takes some time. Oh, and a bonus third factor: it’s not low-cost. The entire Readwise service — word syncing, Kindle integration, all that — prices $8 a month. Nicely price it, in case you ask me, however not low-cost. 

Talking of: in case you use this hyperlink, I believe you’ll get two free months earlier than you begin paying as an alternative of only one. Give it a whirl, let me know what you suppose and what you employ to learn in your gadgets!

Display share

Tom Warren’s residence workplace might be cooler than yours. It’s undoubtedly cooler than mine! He has a teleprompter, an outrageously cool custom-built PC, some sick wall artwork, and extra. Tom is a setup connoisseur, along with being The Verge’s fundamental authority on all issues Microsoft, and I admire him for each issues.

In order for you all of the desk-setup deets, you’ll find them on Reddit or ping Tom on Threads. However I wished to know if he cares for his small display screen as a lot as the large ones, so I requested him to share his homescreen with us.

Right here’s Tom’s homescreen, plus some data on the apps he makes use of and why:

The telephone: iPhone 15 Professional.

The wallpaper: One in all The Verge ones I believe. (Editor’s word: it’s this one.)

The apps: Telephone, Clock, Photographs, Digicam, App Retailer, Telegram, Messages, Settings, Slack, YouTube, Google House, Discord, Instagram, Unread, Twitch, Xbox, WhatsApp, Outlook, Chrome, X, Threads, Bluesky.

The 2 widgets are good ones that rotate between Spotify and my 30-min electrical energy price on the suitable, and my calendar and the climate on the left. The electrical energy one is there to observe the very best instances to run home equipment and cost my EV, as a result of electrical prices within the UK spiraled after the invasion of Ukraine. I even have fast entry to my safety cameras via Google House, which itself has widgets for good residence controls. I’ve X, Threads, and Bluesky multi functional simply accessible folder as a result of I can’t determine which one replaces Twitter!

I additionally requested Tom to share a couple of issues he’s into proper now. Right here’s what he shared:

The Wombles. I used to be an enormous fan of The Wombles rising up as a child, so once I’m not listening to EDM loudly in my headphones, you’ll discover me listening to an episode of The Wombles on BBC Sounds. It’s delightfully enjoyable, due to the voice appearing of Richard E. Grant.TeeDee. TeeDee got here on my radar when he did a mixture of Dave and Secondcity’s “I Wanna Really feel” final 12 months. Since then I’m totally invested in his SoundCloud as a result of he always produces absolute bangers.The Finals. I’m obsessive about The Finals in the intervening time. It’s a damaging first-person enviornment shooter that’s blowing up on Twitch and Steam. It’s an enormous break from the standard Name of Obligation, Overwatch, or battle royale components, and I can’t cease smiling once I discover some new option to explode buildings within the recreation.

Crowdsourced

Right here’s what the Installer neighborhood is into this week. I wish to know what you’re into proper now as properly! E mail [email protected] together with your suggestions for something and every part, and we’ll characteristic a few of our favorites right here each week. 

“I used this shelf app referred to as Anybox. This app is a field to rapidly entry any kind of merchandise: picture, textual content, doc, and hyperlinks. The app permits customization for default motion based mostly on saved merchandise kind, we will preview, copy, share, and so forth.” — Krishna

“Watching Fisk on Netflix. This Australian quirky comedy simply launched a second season this month. I like the quick 25-minute episodes, makes it straightforward to observe and revel in.” — Carter

“As you have been speaking about media group / assortment apps, please try the game-tracking app developed by IGN referred to as Playlist. It’s free and I’m liking it.” — OK

“Analogue Duo baybee.” — Chris

“AI wallpapers on the Google Pixel! I’ve been hooked on creating AI wallpapers and it feels just like the mixtures are actually limitless. Going from an AI-generated portray of a mountain and spaceships to a surreal fortress product of muslin with completely different colour shades is wildly enjoyable!” — Michael

“Listening to The Vergecast podcast on how Twitter formally died this 12 months and Watching Blue Eye Samurai on Netflix. I extremely advocate it to anybody who likes animation.” — Paul

“If it hasn’t been talked about but, or even when it has, it’s best to try the present Scavengers Reign on Max. Good and freaky sci-fi wonderfulness!” — Edward

“Utilizing Calibre to subscribe to newsletters / newspapers and have them seem on my kindle each morning offers me a good looking little ‘sluggish web’ expertise whereas I sip my espresso.” — Jon

“This week I found Mammoth, an insanely attractive Mastodon app. Till now I’ve not been capable of see previous Ivory. Additionally Longplay is an excellent iOS app to rediscover my album assortment in Apple Music.” — Chris

“Spotify audiobooks. I do know you don’t personal the audiobooks after however it’s actually handy to get 15 hours at no cost. It’s sufficient to get me via at the very least one medium-sized guide every month. I exploit it with Libby and Audible to learn a bunch through the month!” — Harrison

Signing off

This week, The Verge printed one in all my favourite packages we’ve ever achieved, all concerning the dying of Twitter. The tales are good, learn all of them, however severely, y’all: you need to go to The Nice Scrollback of Alexandria and spend a couple of minutes / hours / months scrolling via hundreds of the very best tweets of all time. The checklist reorders each time you open the web page, and if there’s a backside of the checklist, I positive haven’t discovered it. Twitter was actually a deranged, horrible, fantastic place. And in case you get to the 3944 tweet (you’ll understand it whenever you see it), simply know that I laughed for totally quarter-hour at that tweet. I hope you do, too.

We’re off subsequent week for the vacation. Hope you will have an important one, and see you in two weeks!