Arc is the best new browser for Windows

Hi friends! Welcome to installer #36, your guide to the best and Border-most important thing in the world. (If you’re new here, hello, I’m glad you found us, the installerverse loves you, and you can also read all the back issues on installer home page.)

I missed you all last week! I was at a friend’s bachelor party in South Carolina, playing golf and eating burgers and mostly staying offline. Thanks to everyone who got in touch to say they missed the newsletter! But I’m back now, and too installer. We are then to go back. This week, I’ve been writing about AI Gadgets It is iPadattending Baby reindeer It is The fallen guyreading A drink before the warand listening to the excellent Challengers punctuation.

I also have for you a new browser for Windows, some new mobile audio options, some fun things to watch this weekend, coffee apps, and more. Let’s dig.

(As always, the best part installer are your ideas and tips. What are you doing now? What should everyone be doing right now? Tell me everything: installer@theverge.com. And if you know someone who might like installertell them to sign up here.)

• Arc for Windows. Arc is still my favorite browser, and even in this first version, it’s surprisingly solid on Windows. (Although it lacks some of Arc’s more advanced features and some AI stuff.) If you give it a try, give it some time – it’s a big change from Chrome, but I’m still sold on it. (The iOS app also received some big, much-needed updates this week.)
• Claudio for iOS. I’m sure there’s a good rubric for which AI model is good for what purposes, but mostly I just gravitate towards whichever application is best? The new one from Anthropic is cool: clean, simple, faster than the web app, for sure. me too really as the icon.
• “’No CGI’ is actually just invisible CGI.” The fourth and final part of a really cool series about CGI, from the great The Movie Rabbit Hole channel on YouTube. I learned a lot about filmmaking and the good and bad tricks filmmakers use in these videos.
• Sofa 4.0. A big update to one of my favorite movie/book/show trackers. The sofa now lets you collect and organize anything, however you want — Mac Stories has a great summary of all the things you can do, and I’m already using it to plan summer trips.
• The Bose SoundLink Max. $399 is expensive for a Bluetooth speaker, but I really like this one. Long battery life; an AUX port; a fun little strap; presumably excellent sound. I have been a UE Wonderboom believer for years but will try this one this summer.
• The solo beats 4. I agree with Chris Welch that it’s strange not to have ANC on these headphones. But I’m still interested in the look, I love how lightweight they are, and I’m also excited about the corded options.
• Hacks season 3. I was late to this show about the lives and relationships of two comedians, but it’s funny and weird and totally worth it. Only 18 episodes to watch! You can do it this weekend!
• The idea of ​​you. I’m currently biased towards Anne Hathaway because I just discovered she’s also an Arsenal fan, which makes her cool, smart and great. But I keep hearing good things about this movie on Netflix about modern life and fame and the weirdness of both.
• “Phone apps for (strange) coffee people.” James Hoffmann is a must-subscribe for all things coffee, but I especially loved this look at all the apps for coffee drinkers. I have become a huge Filter fan in particular, and my coffee process is now more complicated than ever. I love that.

Riley Testut Had a busy few weeks. A few months, actually. Years, honestly. He is the developer behind Delta, the game emulator that has taken over the App Store in recent weeks and which could also be the sign of a new era of apps. It’s working to bring its app store, AltStore PAL, to users in the EU, while also trying to get some Pokémon playing.

I asked Riley to share his home screen, partly just to see if I could poke around his Delta and ROM settings. I got my wish! Here’s Riley’s home screen, plus some information about the apps he uses and why:

The telephone: iPhone 12 Mini purple. I absolutely LOVE this phone and dread having to upgrade to a bigger one eventually. (I would have bought the 13 Mini, except it doesn’t come in purple.)

The wallpaper: A photo of a Pokémon Mew-shaped drone show, originally taken by Joe Merrick (of Serebii fame), then lightly edited.

The apps: Phone, FaceTime, Photos, Camera, Notes, Maps, Calculator, Find, Files, Pokemon SleepSettings, 1Password, Alamo Drafthouse, Messages, Mail, Safari.

My co-founder/roommate Shane and I are obsessed with Pokemon Sleep (we compete to see who can get the most sparkle), so this has earned a place front and center. My social folder contains my most used apps (Ivory and Threads), and below that is the Alamo Drafthouse app, which I use A LOT because I love going to the movies and have the annual pass ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

1Password contains literally everything important in my life, so it’s also a staple, but I only created the Delta folder recently when it launched on the App Store. It contains the application itself as well as launchers for Pokémon Emerald It is Pokémon HeartGold as well as the amazing Ketchup pokedex app so I can easily search Pokémon Statistics.

And since I can’t use AltStore PAL outside of the EU, I have the regular AltStore widget to remind me to update my apps every week!

I also asked Riley to share some things he enjoys now. Here’s what he shared:

• I bought one Steam deck a few months ago and I absolutely love it! In fact, it’s the main way I kept myself entertained while we were stuck in Europe trying to launch AltStore PAL (God bless the Dolphin emulator and Super Mario Galaxy 2).
• I also love super nerdy science videos on YouTube, and the History of the Universe channel is literally the perfect thing to put on in the background while I build some Legos or something. I also recently discovered Technological connections‘channel, which basically scratches the same itch, but for technology. I will also forever be a fan of Nirvanna the band the showand Shane and I love yours.”Update day”Video so much so that we even used it to tease the launch of AltStore PAL.
• At the same time… I am also deeply involved in the ongoing discourse about UFOs. It’s exciting to see something that has been rejected for so long being taken seriously by Congress and others, because that’s how science progresses!

Here’s what installer community is this week. I want to know what you’re doing now too! Email installer@theverge.com or message me on Signal – @davidpierce.11 ​​- with your recommendations for anything and everything, and we’ll feature some of our favorites here every week. If you want even more good stuff, check out responses to this post on Threads.

“Neal Brennan Crazy Good is Netflix’s funniest stand-up since Ali Wong baby snake.” – Christopher

“I’m obsessed with note-taking apps again because I’m crazy. I tried recently Tana, and it’s incredible. It seems like the most natural way to take notes (bullet journaling, tasks, project management) and will probably convince me to ditch Logseq, Obsidian, and everything else.” –Rin

“Voiijer. This interesting social media app is focused on travel posting. From daytime hikes to overnight adventures abroad. I tried a little, but it seems geared towards being a travelogue. It feels new and interesting.” – Nicholas

“3Blue1Brown. I really like this YouTube channel in general and I really enjoyed watching it this playlist. It breaks down super-complicated math concepts into bite-sized, easy-to-digest chunks using examples and great visualizations. This playlist seems particularly relevant for anyone who wants to dig a little deeper into the technologies and algorithms that are driving this wave of enthusiasm for AI.” -Abie

“O new video by David Imel about how the emoji became the symbol of AI is about 1,000 times more interesting than I thought it would be. I don’t want to spoil anything, which is weird to say about a video like this, but honestly, the name of the video is just an outline of how cool it is.” – Lucas

I’ve been playing BonkGameBoy Games using Delta and writing about games in Pendencieswhich is a fun video game-focused review site built very similarly to Mail box.” – Sawyer

“My last rabbit hole is comics and graphic novels, and as someone who removes DRM from their e-books, I’m still trying to find the right one. Caliber of comics. I landed YAC Reader and YACReader Library. It’s good enough, but I feel like there’s still room for a really good app.” -Kevin

“I started paying more attention to eating healthy and I remember hating MyFitnessPal. I found the app Stopwatch, which is a great freemium alternative. Highly recommended!” – Jônatas

“I just wanted to share how much I’m loving the new AppleTV Plus series Sugar starring Colin Farrell as private detective John Sugar, who handles the case of a missing daughter. It has a great camera, vibe, and overall the aesthetics are amazing. The plot is even better, with subtle details surrounding the show. I just watched it for the third time (there are only four episodes so far) and I noticed a lot of clues to further development that I hadn’t noticed before. I feel like the producers must have spent a lot of time developing this show.” – Vojtech

“I just got back to Castro podcast app movement. It’s under new management and they are iterating. The queue system is .” – Advay

Over the past few weeks, I’ve been reading and hearing a lot about how much people like Boox Palma. It’s basically just an Android phone, but it has a Kindle-style E Ink screen, which means it’s terrible at a lot of things, but it can download all your reading and news apps. I have a lot more testing to do, but so far, love this thing. It’s a little slow and a little unstable, but it fits in my pocket and is a perfect device for reading and taking quick notes. For years, I alternated between carrying a notebook everywhere, relying on my phone for everything, trying to fit some other device into my workflow, and even occasionally being an iPad-carrying weirdo. The Palma isn’t perfect, but this form factor – an Android device with an E Ink screen – can be. I’ll have a longer article on this in the coming weeks, but if you’re intrigued, I’ve loved it so far.