Hi, friends! Welcome to Installer No. 22, 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.)
Technology
A new spin on a powerful calendar app
/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24844606/Installer_Site_Post_002.jpg?ssl=1 "A new spin on a powerful calendar app")
This week, I’ve been reading about the unbearable sameness of coffee shops and what happened to Twitch, testing out the Funnel iOS app for quick-capturing everything, marveling over Federico Viticci’s truly wild iPad setup, setting up my Flipboard all over again now that Artifact is dead, filling my cabinets thanks to this list of great new snacks, adding all the Emmy winners to my Sofa queue, and watching every behind-the-scenes Jon Bellion video that exists on the internet.
I also have for you a huge new Samsung phone, a couple of nifty calendar apps, a new riff on an old game, some more cool AI tools, and much more. Even a new late-night show! In 2024!
And I have a question: what’s your go-to news app? I mean “news” in the broadest way possible — when you’re like, “What’s new and interesting and happening,” do you turn to a social platform? A specific publisher’s app? Reddit? Flipboard? SmartNews? A bunch of browser bookmarks you cycle through? Something else I’ve never heard of? I know a lot of us were hoping Artifact might be the future of Finding The Good Links, but alas, it won’t. So I want to know all your favorite places to go!
Alright, lots to do this week. Let’s go.
(As always, the best part of Installer is your ideas and tips. What apps are you into right now? What are you watching, reading, listening to, crocheting, cooking, or learning about this week? Tell me everything: installer@theverge.com. And if you want to get Installer in your inbox a day before it appears here, you can subscribe here.)
The Drop
- The Samsung Galaxy S24. It’s a safe bet that this will be the best Android phone of the year. Samsung keeps pushing on camera specs, integrated AI (it has more Google AI than the Pixels!), and overall how enormous and expensive a phone can actually be. The Ultra is a powerhouse, but the S24 Plus looks like the one to beat.
- Notion Calendar. Cron was one of the best-looking calendar apps on the market, and when Notion acquired it in 2022, it was only a matter of time until the two platforms integrated more. Now, Cron is Notion Calendar, with deep database and notes integration. Probably for Notion users only, but there are lots of us out there.
- TidyCal 3.0. One more calendar thing: I’ve done a total 180 over the years, and I now prefer a Calendly-style “just put time on my calendar” email rather than a bunch of back and forth. TidyCal is a cheap and easy tool for just that, and it just got a nice redesign, too.
- Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown. Two weeks into 2024, and already a strong Game of the Year contender! The praise for this side-scroller has been pretty much universal. It’s a good mix of difficult and doable, old structures and new ways of doing stuff. And lots and lots of fighting.
- Ayaneo’s Mini PC AM02. I have Ayaneo’s Macintosh-looking AM01 sitting on my desk right now, and it’s delightful. The AM02 looks like an old-school Nintendo console, and I think I like it even more. These are cheap, simple PCs for light gaming or simple tasks, and the aesthetics are just on point.
- The DJI Mic 2. I think microphones might be the best thing DJI makes? The drones are great, yeah yeah, but these are some surprisingly high-end mobile mics that any creator or podcaster might want to add to their kit.
- After Midnight. I was nervous about the “the whole thing is a game show” shtick for Taylor Tomlinson’s new late-night show, but the first episode totally works — Tomlinson is super funny and a good host, the whole show is bonkers in a fun way, and outside of the first-episode weirdness you always get, I’m bullish on this show being a hit.
- The Bose Ultra Open Earbuds. I’ve been increasingly replacing my AirPods with the Ray-Ban Meta glasses because I listen to too many podcasts, and shoving anything into my ear canals hurts after a while. These are a clever — if expensive, at $300 — workaround: high-end earbuds that clip to your ears instead of resting in them. Very curious to test these out.
- Superhuman AI. I’m convinced that “write my boring, repetitive business-speak emails for me” is the best current use for AI. And Superhuman’s doing it really nicely — you just sort of sketch out your idea for an email, and boom, it writes it for you. Is it great prose? No. But it’s email! Who cares!
- Plants vs. Zombies 3. I honestly forgot about this game, one of the silliest and most fun early mobile games. And now it’s back! I’m not wild about it embracing microtransactions, and it’s not available everywhere yet, but I’m confident I’ll lose a lot of hours in PvZ3 before too long.
Screen share
Vjeran Pavic is always taking pictures. Pictures for The Verge, where he’s our supervising producer for video and also a gadget-photo wizard. Pictures for Instagram. Pictures of his dog, his sick ski tricks, his cat, his travels, everything. Pictures, pictures, pictures. He’s always testing new cameras, too, from drones to GoPros to DSLRs.
I asked Vjeran to share his homescreen thinking he might have a hundred camera apps for a hundred different things. Turns out, not really! It’s just good old-fashioned Camera in there. But he makes really clever use of his photos on his phone, which I’ll let him explain.
Here’s Vjeran’s homescreen, plus five of his many lock screen options, plus some info on the apps he uses and why:
The phone: iPhone 13 Pro Max (with probably better battery health than all y’all’s 15 Pros).
The wallpaper: I like to keep it fresh, so I set up a few different ones that change each time I look at my phone. I picked about 10 different ones, and I swap them out every few months. All of the photos are taken by me and / or of things or people (animals) that are close or meaningful to me — or are simply photos that I think would look good as wallpaper. You’ll see photos of San Francisco and my home country, but the ones that make me the happiest are of my pets.
Once the phone is unlocked, I prefer a very clean look, so my wallpaper is just one very blurred, colorful background. It’s easier on the eyes and has better separation between the apps, text, and the background.
The apps: Messages, Threads (the app with both the most unpredictable and predictable algo out there), Apple Podcasts, Artifact (recently made it onto my first screen but looks like it won’t be there for too long), Apple News, Airmail, Safari, Camera (gotta have that quick access to the camera app, but I still prefer double-clicking the power button to access it like most Android phones do).
I’m not sure if people are utilizing iOS / iPad Focus modes, but I made a few different ones based on time of day, location, or activity. That means my homescreen changes based on a mode, but let’s look at this one, which is part of my most-used Focus mode.
It mostly consists of widgets, which I don’t need to interact with; rather, they give me some info at a quick glance. Things like my fitness rings, weather, battery info. The only one I might swap out soon is the activity one since I also have an Apple Watch. Most of my Focus modes also have just one page of apps / widgets. I used to put everything in folders across multiple pages, but 99 percent of my input comes from just using Spotlight or App Library.
I also asked Vjeran to share a few things he’s into right now. Here’s what he said:
- I recently drove by a pretty amazing comic book store near Chico, California. I ended up buying some new and old comic books, including Before Watchmen and Something Is Killing the Children, which I also found out has been picked up by Netflix. I haven’t started reading any of it yet because it feels like I’ve just been recovering from CES all of this week.
- I’ve been a ski racer for most of my life, and I love to spend my free time up in the mountains, when possible. But last year, I also picked up snowboarding, and it has been a joy to learn a new sport. (If any of our readers have a cabin in Tahoe, please befriend me. I’ll make you breakfast burritos.) Usually, on my drive up there, I’m pondering why GoPro hasn’t released a new 360 camera since 2019 and if I should jump ship and spend $500 on an Insta360 Ace instead.
- I love revisiting older TV shows. And there’s one show that I revisit more often than others — The X-Files. So for the past few months, I’ve been rewatching it in its entirety, reminiscing about times when conspiracy theories were more fun[ny] and almost part of modern folklore. It has some high highs and low lows, and the current season I’m on is one of those lows, so it’s becoming more of a background show while I’m editing or organizing photos.
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.
“If you’re into romcoms, musicals, cringe, and honest portrayals of mental health issues, you probably want to see Crazy Ex-Girlfriend. The only show where I’ve screamed “Nooooooo!” “That’s not trueeee!” or “Don’t do itttt!” multiple times in each episode.” – Xyan
“Mr Bates vs The Post Office! A fantastic show that has brought attention to a great injustice that was done to postal workers in the UK in the early 2000s!” – Jason
“PlayPilot is pretty much my go-to site for finding out where movies are streaming (or not). We save the stuff we want to see in there and then roll through the services over the year. I just wish they were integrated with LG TVs…” – Robert
“I’ve been digging into The Pale Beyond on Steam, and it’s a really evocative, desperate little narrative resource management game.” – Jordan
“Disclosure: Vox Media is a parent company of The Verge. That said, Unexplainable is such a great podcast. Huge variety of topics. Each episode is short enough to keep me from losing interest yet still manages to pack in a ton of info and be interesting. I learn so much!” – Kelly (Disclosure: I didn’t add this disclosure, I left it in because it’s hilarious.)
“I tried adding Structured to my productivity stack for the new semester, and even though it didn’t stick for me (I’ve got too much structured time that lives in GCal, it turns out), it’s very pretty and fairly full-featured. I liked that it is a lot more forgiving of to-dos that take a nonstandard amount of time, and it builds in space to breathe between blocks without leaving white space begging to be filled.” – Ainslee
“I’m always looking out for iOS games I can play while listening to podcasts. They should be ‘mindless’ and preferably playable in bits while stuck in traffic. The game Holedown always filled that hole for me (no pun intended). But now I learned about the game Finity on Apple Arcade, and I can’t get enough of it.” – Mustapha
“Clear is back, and it looks stunning. And for those at home, there are collectibles: themes, icons, sounds, etc.” – Austin (Austin also sent their referral link, which gets everybody free stuff. Yay, free stuff!)
“Blue Eye Samurai on Netflix is a great show. It’s about an outcast in feudal Japan after they closed themselves off from the rest of the world. Four white men remain in Japan in secret, and the outcast vows to kill them in revenge because being mixed race is a problem in their society. Extra twist: she’s a girl hiding her gender. Commentary on being a woman in that society ensues. Great show, story, characters, setting, and commentary. Comparisons to Mulan be damned.” – Joseph
Signing off
There are two genres of video I will always watch no matter the subject: videos about people who are really good at something explaining how they do it, and videos about super-niche competitions that people care deeply about. My latest discovery in the latter category: the World Jigsaw Puzzle Championship, in which a bunch of puzzlers pull a puzzle out of a bag and try to put it together as quickly as they can. Here’s a great video from a competitor, and the full five-hour livestream of the event. I love learning about the different solving strategies (start with the sky!), I love the drama, and I also want to puzzle competitively now. But I definitely couldn’t hang. I don’t puzzle like these folks puzzle.
Continue Reading
Earlier this year, a relatively unknown startup from Finland made a startling announcement: It had finally solved solid-state batteries.
Not only that, but Donut Lab, a spinoff of Verge Motorcycles, said that its solid-state battery — long considered the “Holy Grail of batteries” for their high-density, durable, fast-charging abilities — would go into production later this year.
Battery experts were understandably skeptical. After all, solid-state batteries are one of those technologies, along with artificial general intelligence and the hyperloop, that seem perpetually two years away. And while most legitimate efforts in this field — whether academic or commercial — have some level of published research or recognizable names attached, Donut Lab seemed to have emerged out of nowhere, with no known researchers or prior presence in the field. This lack of traceability immediately raised concerns about the startup’s credibility.
“I can’t say they didn’t do it,” said Eric Wachsman, the director of the Maryland Energy Innovation Institute and an expert on solid-state batteries and solid oxide fuel cells. “All I can say is they haven’t demonstrated that they have.”
The skepticism seems warranted, especially when you consider how many other people have been chasing the solid-state dream. Were we really to believe this obscure startup had beaten Toyota, Stellantis, and the entire nation of China to the punch? The odds were against it.
Donut Lab seemed to anticipate the doubt, launching a website last February called idonutbelieve.com that would serve as a platform to publish independent tests verifying that, in fact, its solid-state battery was real, and spectacular. Over the course of several weeks, the startup posted third-party results from state-owned VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland that it said proved its battery was what it said it was: a fast-charging, high-energy-density solid-state battery that wasn’t actually a supercapacitor in disguise.
“The resistance won’t disappear when we present the proof,” Donut Lab CEO and cofounder Marko Lehtimäki said in a video. “It will just intensify because this new technology is a threat to the established players in the industry.”
But Donut Lab is still hiding the ball on some key information. At CES in January, the startup said its solid-state battery has an energy density of 400Wh per kilogram—roughly twice that of typical lithium iron phosphate (LFP) batteries in production. Not only that, but it could charge to full in five minutes, had a practically unlimited lifespan of 100,000 charging cycles, was unaffected by heat and cold (negative 30 degrees Celsius and 100C), and contains no rare earth elements, precious metals, or flammable liquid electrolytes.
Much of that remains unsubstantiated. Even after posting five independent test reports from VTT, the startup has yet to demonstrate three of the most important metrics: chemistry, density, and cycle-life claims.
The stakes are incredibly high. Imagine an electric vehicle that can travel 700–800 miles on a single charge, and that wasn’t at risk of bursting into flames because the flammable electrolytes had been replaced with a solid material.
In lithium-ion batteries, the motion of the liquid electrolytes generates heat, and in certain situations, this can slip into a “thermal runaway” effect that results in a fire. By comparison, solid-state batteries would make it safer to quickly draw power from (or add it back to) the battery, meaning you could theoretically charge an EV faster. It also could mean, structurally, less room has to be devoted to temperature control, which could allow companies to squeeze more battery cells into the same size pack.
After reviewing the tests of the Donut battery, Wachsman said there are still significant concerns. During the extreme heat tests, for example, the pouch surrounding Donut’s battery lost its vacuum seal. Gas generation inside batteries — caused by processes like electrolyte decomposition or oxygen release — can lead to swelling and rupture of the battery pouch. But without knowing the exact chemistry of the cell, it’s difficult to say how significant it is that Donut’s battery had this failure.
Setting aside the Donut battery for a moment, solid-state batteries have struggled to graduate from the laboratory to the assembly line because of well-documented problems. These batteries are often plagued by the formation of metallic cracks called dendrites that cause them to short circuit. Think of them like cracks that form on a sidewalk when a tree root grows underneath.
Dendrites have been a thorn in the side of battery developers since the 1970s. One reason lithium-ion batteries have become ubiquitous while other approaches have stalled is that their commonly used graphite anodes are less susceptible to dendrite formation.
But new discoveries could help engineers finally overcome these hurdles. A research team from MIT recently published a study in Nature that found that chemical reactions caused by high electrical currents that weaken the electrolyte also make it more susceptible to dendrite growth. That’s why developing stronger electrolytes alone hasn’t solved the decades-old dendrite problem. And it could point to the importance of developing more chemically stable materials to finally fulfill the promise of solid-state batteries.
Progress is already being made — where else? — in China. Last month, CATL, which controls nearly 40 percent of the global battery market, filed a patent application for solid-state batteries with a reported 500Wh energy density. According to CarNewsChina, the battery maker has already been planning small-scale production in 2027. But automotive-grade cells won’t be ready likely until the end of the decade.
Other Chinese companies are rushing ahead. Automaker FAW said recently that its “liquid-solid-state” lithium-rich manganese cell with 500Wh/kg was ready for vehicle integration.
China is already laying the groundwork for mass production by the end of the decade, by which point it hopes the technology will be mature. And why wouldn’t it? This is a country that has taken EVs and battery development seriously for years, allowing it to corner the market on much of the world’s supply.
Different companies are taking different approaches. For example, Honda is committed to sulfur-based electrolytes despite emerging alternatives. Last October, Toyota announced “the world’s first practical use of all-solid-state batteries in BEVs” by 2027 or 2028. And Mercedes, using a prototype battery from startup Factorial, was able to get an electric EQS sedan a real-world range of 749 miles.
“The companies probably have a ways to go,” said Alevtina Smirnova, director of the NSF Industry-University Cooperative Research Center for Solid-State Electric Power Storage. “Because there is no comparison to what is happening now in China to what is happening here in the US.”
For its part, Donut Lab is unperturbed by the skepticism around its claims. On April 1st, Lehtimäki posted a new video addressing some of the controversy surrounding its solid-state batteries. He also revealed that Donut Lab had created a second, more production-ready version of its battery that would start shipping to customers later this year.
There was a crucial admission: The widely discussed “100,000 cycles” figure was a design target, he said, not an experimentally verified result. Actual testing has been conducted over shorter cycles, with projections extrapolated based on known variables such as charge rate, temperature, and usage conditions.
He then pivoted to a more near-term project: Donut Lab’s latest merch drop, including a “tin-foil”-covered bucket hat.
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A worker stocks merchandise at a Lowe’s home improvement store in Chicago, Illinois, on Feb. 26, 2025. Lowe’s reported fourth-quarter earnings that exceeded Wall Street estimates. (Scott Olson/Getty Images)
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IN TODAY’S NEWSLETTER:
– Lowe’s CEO warns AI can’t climb a ladder as company makes $250M bet on blue-collar future
– Wisconsin town becomes first in nation to pass referendum restricting AI data center development
– Amazon rebuilding customer shopping experience around AI from ground up
HAMMERING IT HOME: Lowe’s CEO warns AI can’t climb a ladder as company makes $250M bet on blue-collar future – The CEO of Lowe’s highlighted the physical limitations of artificial intelligence, noting that AI “can’t climb a ladder,” while simultaneously announcing the home improvement company’s massive $250 million investment focused on the future of blue-collar work.
CITIZENS FIGHT BACK: Wisconsin town becomes first in nation to pass referendum restricting AI data center development – A local community in Wisconsin became the first in the nation to pass a referendum designed to restrict the development of massive artificial intelligence data centers in their area.
CLEAN SHEET: Amazon disrupting itself, rebuilding customer shopping experience around AI from ground up – Tech giant Amazon is intentionally disrupting its own established e-commerce models by rebuilding the entire customer shopping experience from the ground up to center around advanced artificial intelligence technologies.
Amazon CEO Andy Jassy speaks during an Amazon Devices launch event in New York City, Feb. 26, 2025. (Brendan McDermid/Reuters)
SECURITY DISPUTE: Federal appeals court rejects Anthropic bid to block Pentagon blacklist in AI dispute – A federal appeals court denied a bid by artificial intelligence company Anthropic to block a Pentagon blacklist amid an ongoing legal dispute regarding defense contracting and AI technology.
War Secretary Pete Hegseth marveled at the ‘war time speed’ of Operation Epic Fury forces. (Win McNamee/Getty Images)
WHAT’S AT STAKE: OPINION: Chad Wolf: China’s AI mockery shows fight for America is underway – Former acting Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf argues in a Fox News Digital op-ed that China’s mockery in the artificial intelligence space is a clear indicator that the high-stakes fight for America’s future is already actively underway.
ENEMY WITHIN: OPINION: We could win AI war, still lose all our freedoms if we aren’t careful – A newly published opinion essay from Fox News Digital explores the complex geopolitical and domestic threats surrounding artificial intelligence, cautioning that the United States could successfully win the global AI arms race but still risk losing fundamental freedoms if careful guardrails are not implemented.
REVOLUTIONARY MOMENT: Hollywood titan believes AI is a revolutionary moment reshaping industries – A prominent Hollywood titan expressed strong convictions regarding artificial intelligence, characterizing the technology’s rapid advancement as a revolutionary moment that is fundamentally reshaping the entertainment industry and beyond.
BOT DOC: AI chatbots refilling psych meds sparks debate – If you have ever waited weeks just to renew a mental health prescription, you already know how frustrating the system can feel. Now imagine handling that refill through a chatbot instead of a doctor.
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The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has struggled for years to have enough air traffic controllers to address shortages, with the US Government Accountability Office (GAO) saying in January that the number of people in the job in the US has declined by around 6 percent “in the last decade.” Now the Trump administration is rolling out a recruiting campaign targeting gamers ahead of the opening of the annual air traffic control hiring window on April 17th.
Even with the campaign, getting qualified individuals through training and into the role may still be a challenge: according to the Department of Transportation’s Office of Inspector General (OIG), the FAA is facing “considerable challenges with training, including a shortage of qualified instructors, training capacity limitations, an outdated curriculum, and high training failure rates.”
An FAA video full of clips of things like Madden NFL, Fortnite, League of Legends esports, and the Xbox One stinger from commercials promises an average salary of $155,000 per year after three years and says that “you’ve been training for this.”
In a press release, the FAA says that air traffic controllers said in exit interviews that gaming was an influence on “their ability to think quickly, stay focused, and manage complexity.” The FAA’s website about the application process encourages applicants to “level up” their career. However, the Trump administration isn’t the first to target gamers for the role; according to The New York Times, the Biden administration launched a “Level Up” recruiting push in 2021, encouraging gamers as well as women and members of minority groups to become air traffic controllers.
Getting more air traffic controllers has been a focus for Sean Duffy, President Trump’s secretary of transportation, and he announced a plan to “supercharge” hiring shortly after he was sworn in for the job last year. That campaign closed in March 2025 and “attracted more than 10,000 applications,” resulting in about 600 trainees entering the Controller Training Academy, the OIG says. And the GAO says that some attrition during the air traffic controller hiring process “may be preventable,” noting that the hiring process can be “difficult to navigate” and that applicants may have already accepted other jobs by the time they get an employment offer.
The National Air Traffic Controllers Association (NATCA), the union representing air traffic controllers, “welcomes innovative approaches to expanding the candidate pool,” including “outreach to individuals with high-level aptitude skills such as gamers,” according to a statement from NATCA president Nick Daniels.
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