Googlebooks might be the real deal

Plus, in this week’s Installer: New Meta glasses, Remedy’s Control sequel, Microsoft’s updated Surface Mouse, and more.

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Hi, friends! Welcome to Installer No. 145, your guide to the best and Verge -iest stuff in the world. (If you’re new here, welcome, I’m happy to be done traveling for a bit, and also you can read all the old editions at the Installer homepage .)

This week, I flew to San Francisco to try out Meta’s new hardware, including the impressive Meta VR Glasses . Along the way, I’ve been listening to Joanna Stern’s interview with Mark Zuckerberg , watching this interview with new Apple CEO John Ternus , revisiting Steve Jobs’ “Antennagate” press conference Q&A , playing games on my Steam Deck using the Xreal One Pro glasses, and reading Sarah Wynn-Williams’ Careless People when I have spare moments.

I also have for you more on Meta’s glasses, Remedy’s Control sequel, Microsoft’s updated Surface Mouse, and more.

The Drop

Screen share

Today I’m featuring The Verge ’s Brad Bourque . Brad joined our commerce team for a few months to help out with our deals coverage and has been going deep into gaming tech. He’s also a fellow Portlander, so I had to feature him as one of our small but mighty Portland contingent.

I asked Brad to share his homescreen and the apps and things he cares about. Here it is, plus some info on the apps he uses and why:

The wallpaper: My homescreen wallpaper is just an included Pixel wallpaper of plants in mellow green tones. My lockscreen is a fan-made Tekken Tag Tournament poster featuring Armor King and Modelo. It doesn’t have to make sense if the vibes are right.

I also asked Brad to share a few things he’s into right now. Here’s what he sent back:

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 with your recommendations for anything and everything, and we’ll feature some of our favorites here every week. For even more great recommendations, check out the replies to this post on The Verge .

“I’ve been really enjoying a new app for my self-hosted media server. NostalgiaTV uses your media library to set up TV channels akin to classic cable. You turn it on and it brings up the ‘live’ TV guide/schedule and you can channel surf to choose what to watch instead of scrolling through your media library. Totally unnecessary and also way more fun than I thought it would be. They automatically set up a few channels for you, but you can also get in the weeds setting up custom channels and schedules.” — vikrael

“As a fan of the Planet Money podcast, I was surprised to come across their new book at my local library. Now being a few chapters into it, I am pleasantly surprised about how good of a read it is (especially if you enjoy the podcast). Title is Planet Money: A Guide to the Economic Forces That Shape Your Life .” — YG_400

“Currently reading The God of the Woods by Liz Moore that is being adapted into a Netflix show soon. The book is so good and hard to put down as the mystery draws you in as you hope for answers with each turn of the page.” — Sabertooth

“In the final act of Star Wars Zero Company . It is VERY good.” — BV

“I just recently got back into photography after years of just shooting on my iPhone and trying to tweak the results. Wow have I missed my Ricoh GRIII and Olympus XA2 . While the Ricoh gives me instant gratification of capturing a moment exactly how I envisioned it, it’s been a lot of fun shooting rolls of film (stored in the freezer of course), and having to patiently wait for the results to come back!” — Ricky

Signing off

Well, after my big tip in this section last week about eating at familiar restaurants while traveling, I wasn’t able to do any of that while traveling for Meta, and I felt it. Boy was I tired and hungry. It came down to a few different things, like a busier schedule and mostly being on Meta’s campus, where eating options were limited. I did get to devour some protein bars, which are a guilty pleasure of mine. But I really was hankering for some Chipotle.