A star creator’s go-to travel gear

Hi, friends! Welcome to Installer No. 23, your guide to the best and Verge-iest stuff in the world. (If you’re new here, welcome, so psyched you found us, and also, you can read all the old editions at the Installer homepage.) 

This week, I’ve been reading about the sudden rise in freight train heists and the strange state of Air Jordans, watching Jon Stewart’s Mark Twain Prize speeches all over again, wondering if I should buy an original Macintosh on eBay instead of continuing to pay my mortgage, scheming to get my hands on the “real” Star Wars lightsaber, tracking at-home workouts with Weller, and trying to replace doomscrolling on my phone with the Chess.com app. 

I also have for you a new show from the Silicon Valley creator, a(nother) new calendar app, the hottest new game on the market, a camera worth lusting over, and much more. Let’s get to it.

(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: installer@theverge.com. And if you know someone else who might enjoy Installer, forward it to them, and tell them to subscribe here.)

The Drop

Setups

Last week, I asked you to share what you use to read the news. Or not even news, really, just where you go when you want to know what’s new, what’s going on, what’s the haps. (Sorry for saying “what’s the haps.”) I’ve gotten some great answers and thoughts, and next week, we’re going to dive into that — keep ’em coming to installer@theverge.com. Tell me everything.

This week, I want to do something a little different. On The Vergecast this week, I talked to Ali Abdaal, a creator and author (and doctor!), all about his new book, Feel Good Productivity, and what it means to be a productive and happy and fulfilled person on the internet. Or if it’s even possible.

At the end of our chat, we talked a bit about Ali’s new life as a digital nomad and the gear he’s using to make everything work while he’s on the road. That bit didn’t make it into The Vergecast, but I figured I’d share here. So here’s Ali Abdaal’s setup for life as a creator on the road:

Along with all of that, there’s also the requisite set of cables and dongles and an extension cord. Ali says the whole thing just manages to get underneath the 50-pound limit for checked luggage. He’s also carrying a 14-inch MacBook Pro and an iPad Pro in a Peak Design Everyday Sling. And in the course of our chat, I convinced him not to throw it all away and buy a giant gaming laptop, which he seems to desperately want to do. I told him to just get a Switch instead.

Screen share

One of my favorite new apps in a while officially launched this week. It’s called Amie, and it’s this delightfully designed, slightly bonkers take on managing your time. And after talking to Dennis Müller, Amie’s founder and CEO, I learned he’s up to some really interesting stuff in the calendar space. 

I also learned Dennis has strong feelings about software design and how we ought to interact with all our digital stuff. So I asked him to share his homescreen, guessing it would be carefully curated and nicely designed. Other than one outrageously long folder name that makes me itchy to look at, I was right.

Here’s Dennis’ homescreen, plus some info on the apps he uses and why:

The phone: iPhone 15 Pro, titanium.

The wallpaper: Apple’s weather one, I LOVE the ambience it provides. I think that design will move a lot more into this direction (and also align with what Brian Chesky said about bringing more depth into design that is unequal to skeuomorphism).

The apps: Photos, Health, Google Maps, Safari, Dennis, Spotify, Chrome, Apple Maps, Amie.

Especially notable is probably my JOY folder. As the name says, they’re there because they create a feeling of joy for me. Often not functionally, but more through their design, interactions, etc. Some of the apps inside are:

Otherwise: 

I also asked Dennis to share a few things he’s into right now. Here’s what he came back with: 

Crowdsourced

Here’s what the Installer community is into this week. I want to know what you’re into right now as well! Email installer@theverge.com or message +1 203-570-8663 with your recommendations for anything and everything, and we’ll feature some of our favorites here every week. 

“Loved the first episode of Delicious in Dungeon on Netflix — beautifully drawn, delightfully unhinged, absolutely earnest.” – Jordan

“Something dead simple but so helpful — a shared Reminders Smart List on iOS. My gf and I moved in last fall and wanted an easy way to keep track of groceries as we alternate who goes. Nice use of AI without trying to be more than a shopping list.” – Connor

“I was looking for a new comfort show, so I have started watching Superstore. It’s an incredibly funny and heartwarming show. And it’s very addictive.” – Tirth

“Luck be a Landlord. I’ve been spending too much time playing this silly game. It’s a perfect 10-minute break game.” – Tara 

“Started back my (however-many-I-lost-count) rewatch of Psych, with the added benefit of increased playback speed on my iPad.” – Sean

“I’m really enjoying the memoir Small Fry by Lisa Brennan-Jobs! Steve Jobs’ daughter shares a personal, more down-to-earth experience with the person the world idolizes. I think it humanizes him, which doesn’t necessarily detract from his impact on the world but makes it more well-rounded. It’s been very compelling!” – Ben

“If your jam is videos of experts showing you their process, I strongly recommend Baumgartner Restoration on YouTube.” – Gaetan

“The iOS game QSWaterMelon : Monkey Land has been taking over my life for the past couple of weeks — it’s very intuitive but has more strategy than first appears and is insanely addictive. My mom, who has never played a video game in her life, is hooked!” – Mohsin

“I am currently reading SuperBetter, which is a book about the power of games and how a gameful approach to life would do us good. Also, I have been watching Citizen Khan, a British comedy show about a British Pakistani named Mr. Khan.” – Clive

“Really been enjoying building and rebuilding my Neo70s, in-stock FRL TKL keyboards.” – Noah

“For anyone else that is dropping Castro in the wake of its recent troubles, I’d like to recommend Airshow. While not a direct replacement for Castro’s Inbox, I’ve been able to approximate that feature with Airshow’s playlists. It took some work, but I’m happy with it!” – Mike

Signing off

This week is the 40th anniversary of the original Macintosh launch, which is a pretty cool milestone for a pretty cool computer. I’ve been watching Mac stuff all week: the launch event itself, the epic 1984 ad, MKBHD’s fun “Retro Tech” episode on the Macintosh, a two-hour retrospective with some of the people who helped build the thing, and more. There is so much tech history inside this one little computer, it’s wild.

Also, everyone’s been sharing stories about their first Macs, so here’s mine. I grew up on Windows, and when I decided I wanted a Mac, I didn’t have two nickels to rub together, so I went on Craigslist and bought a Power Mac G4 Cube. I think I paid like $150 for it. This was in 2009, when the Cube was already seven years old. It barely worked, looked so cool, and I loved it to bits. I’ve always had a Mac around ever since — but none are cooler than the Cube.

See you next week!