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.)
Technology
A star creator’s go-to travel gear
/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24828467/Installer_Site_Post_01.jpg?ssl=1 "A star creator’s go-to travel gear")
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
- Masters of the Air. Okay, so, I need you to clear your weekend schedule. Because first, you’re going to rewatch Band of Brothers, which is exactly as good as you remember. Then, you’re going to watch The Pacific, finally, which you kind of forgot about until recently. Then, you’re going to fire up Apple TV Plus and watch this show, the newest in the kinda-series. Sound good? Good. See you Monday.
- Lumiere. Google Research just kind of quietly dropped a new image-to-video AI model, which it calls “a space-time diffusion model for video generation,” which is an extremely cool thing to call it. As far as I can tell, you can’t actually use it yet, but its results look pretty impressive.
- The Hasselblad 907X & CFV 100C. Quite the name, and quite the price — $8,200! — but also quite the camera. As smartphone cameras continue to eat everything, I love watching high-end cameras get even more beautiful, even more impressive, and even more… real? Non-AI-y? Whatever you call it, it’s all camera and no shenanigans, and I love it. (Also, my colleague Becca Farsace made a super fun video about this thing.)
- The mint Pixel 8. I own a black iPhone, and it’s boring and lame and I wish it looked a lot more like this. Bring back phones with cool, vibrant, unusual colors! I don’t know that I’d buy this one — I mean, Pixel 9 leaks are already happening — but I dig the look.
- Palworld. Technically, I should have mentioned this last week, but it became such a phenomenon this week that we just have to talk about it. Pokemon! With guns! And dubious legal standing! This game is on a historic popularity run, has a weird road ahead of it, and you better believe I will be putting in some hours this weekend.
- Twenty Thousand Hertz: “Into The Huluverse.” This podcast has done a bunch of really great deep dives on tech sounds over the years, like the Netflix sound and the noises electric cars make and the omnipresent TikTok narrator. This one, on the sound you hear every time you open Hulu, is another great entrant in the series.
- In the Know. About once a day, I wish Silicon Valley would come back to HBO. This is the closest I’m gonna get, I think: Mike Judge and Zach Woods made another satire show, only this time, it’s animated and about NPR. I’ve only seen the first episode, which feels extremely “internet in 2024”-y. In a good way. Mostly.
- Transcripts for Apple Podcasts. I’ve been a very happy Pocket Casts user for a long time, and this feature — which generates transcripts for every episode you listen to and scrolls them live like they’re song lyrics — is the first thing I’ve ever been jealous of. Every podcast app should do this.
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:
- An Away suitcase, medium sized.
- The Peak Design Travel Backpack, with two camera cubes inside.
- In one cube: a Sony A7S III camera. “My main filming angle.”
- In the other cube: a Sony A7C. “With a 50mm lens, with an extra lens. That’s my photo camera, and it means if I want to do a podcast, I have double cameras, double angles.”
- Two mics: a Sennheiser MKH 416 shotgun mic and a Shure MV7 podcast mic.
- A Falcon Eyes Rollflex light. “It’s a rollable LED panel with a softbox that folds down into like a third of a half of a suitcase. People are always like, ‘Whoa, how does your camera look so good?’ And it’s because of the light. That light is incredible.”
- A Manfrotto Nano light stand. “Which weighs almost nothing.”
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:
- Noto is a lovely indie note-taking app built by a Pinterest engineer. Very interesting scroll interactions and overall interesting information hierarchy.
- Haptic is a small app designed by my friend Alexey Sekachov. He is one of the best designers I know.
- Ice Rage is a random old game I love. Hasn’t been updated for many years and is still GOATed.
- Zenly. RIP.
- Honk and Family. Benji Taylor (and team) are setting the bar on design, especially UI and interaction.
- Dennis, an app I built for myself. I believe modern artists use software, not paint. It’s an app with the simplest interface ever. It uses your camera, and there are no buttons. You can press anywhere on the screen, and that will record a 0.2-second clip. You keep doing that until you have ⇐10s collected. You can export it into a jump-cut video, auto-underlaid with music (so the cuts happen on beat). I want to build two apps as artwork with no other aspiration: one called Dennis, the other will be a game called Müller. I think it’s a bit sad people don’t put their name on their creations anymore. This may have actually lowered the bar for quality.
- Amie: hehe my fav 🤍
I also asked Dennis to share a few things he’s into right now. Here’s what he came back with:
- My favorite article on the internet is on Stardew Valley by GQ.
- I wish everyone used the Hemingway app to improve their writing. Mainly to shorten sentences.
- I’m obsessed with @nikolaisavic on TikTok. His video transitions are crazyyy.
- This Are.na board was a huge inspo for us.
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.
Continue Reading
Technology
The Iranian women Trump ‘saved’ from execution are simultaneously real and AI-manipulated
Only the night before, he had posted on Truth Social about the imminent executions of these women, quoting a screenshot that included a collage of eight glamorously backlit, soft-focus portraits. The photos of the women were immediately accused of being AI-generated. “Trump is begging Iranian leaders to not execute 8 AI-generated women. This is the funniest thing I’ve ever seen,” said one viral X post.
On top of that, almost immediately after Trump’s announcement, Mizan, an Iranian state news agency, called the president a liar. “Last night, Donald Trump, citing a completely false news story, called on Iran to overturn the death sentences of eight women.” Mizan said that some of the women had already been released and others were facing prison time but not execution, and furthermore said that Tehran had made no concessions — presumably, the status of the women has not changed.
The X account for the Iranian embassy in South Africa, perhaps the most relentless shitposter among Iran’s state-affiliated accounts, was quick to pile on by generating its own set of eight women:
The collage that Trump posted is, at the very least, AI-modified, Mahsa Alimardani, the associate director of the Technology Threats & Opportunities program at WITNESS, told The Verge. But the women themselves are real. The woman in the top right corner of the collage is Bita Hemmati, whose photograph appeared in several news stories in various right-leaning news outlets last week. Hemmati is confirmed to have received a death sentence issued by Branch 26 of the Tehran Revolutionary Court for “operational action for the hostile government of the United States and hostile groups.”
Alimardani named six of the women (Bita Hemmati, Mahboubeh Shabani, Venus Hossein-Nejad, Golnaz Naraghi, Diana Taherabadi, Ghazal Ghalandri), and said that the identities of the final two (said to be Panah Movahedi and Ensieh Nejati) were still unverified. The six verified women participated in protests against the government in January. Aside from Hemmati, none of the other women are reported to have received death sentences.
It’s not surprising that Trump has a careless disregard for the truth; it’s not surprising, either, for the Iranian regime to fudge the details to suit its own narrative, or to make light of real political prisoners in order to dunk on the United States.
The additional wrinkle is that the account mocking Trump for coming to the rescue of “8 AI-generated women” is the very same one that landed South Korean president Lee Jae-myung in hot water when he quoted a misleading labeled video posted by that account. Israeli officials have accused the account of being “well-known for spreading disinformation.” The case of the sketchy Lee Jae-myung quote-post is a story of mingled truth and misinformation, where the post got facts very wrong, but the video — of Israeli Defense Forces soldiers shoving a limp body off a rooftop in Gaza — was real, documenting an event that possibly implicates Israeli forces in a violation of international law.
The case of the eight Iranian protesters also features that same mingling of fact and fiction into a fuzzy distortion that fuels an endless disputation of real human rights violations. Their lives have been reduced to glossy pixels and quote-dunks, the stuff of propaganda and parody. While known liars fight with each other on the internet about who these women are and what will happen to them, they — verifiably six of them, at least — remain real people who exist beyond the Iranian internet blackout.
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You probably didn’t expect a travel booking platform to send you into a security spiral. Yet here we are.
Booking.com confirmed that hackers may have accessed customer data, including names, email addresses, phone numbers and booking details. That is enough information to make scam messages look real.
If you’ve booked a hotel or rental through the platform, this is worth your attention.
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SMART TRAVEL SAFETY TIPS BEFORE YOUR NEXT TRIP
Booking.com says hackers may have accessed customer names, emails, phone numbers and reservation details. The breach could make phishing messages look far more convincing. (KairosDee/Getty Images)
What happened in the Booking.com data breach
The company sent email notifications to affected customers after detecting “suspicious activity involving unauthorized third parties” accessing guest booking information. That’s the corporate way of saying someone got in who shouldn’t have been there.
One user shared the full notification on Reddit, where dozens of others said they received the same message. That suggests this was not an isolated case. The notice warned that anything customers “may have shared with the accommodation” could also have been exposed, meaning the breach went beyond basic account data.
What data was exposed in the Booking.com breach
Booking.com confirmed that financial information was not accessed. Physical home addresses were also not part of the breach, according to the company. So no, someone doesn’t have your credit card number or home address from this incident.
What they do potentially have: your name, email address, phone number and the details of your reservation. That’s enough to craft a convincing phishing message, which some hackers may already be doing.
“At Booking.com, we are dedicated to the security and data protection of our guests,” a Booking.com spokesperson said in a statement to CyberGuy. “We recently noticed some suspicious activity involving unauthorized third parties being able to access some of our guests’ booking information, which may include booking details, names, email addresses and phone numbers and anything that travelers may have shared with the accommodation.”
“Financial information was not accessed from Booking.com’s systems, nor were guests’ physical addresses,” the spokesperson continued. “Upon discovering the activity, we took action to contain the issue. We have updated the PIN number for these reservations and informed our guests.”
APPLE NOW LETS YOU ADD YOUR PASSPORT TO YOUR PHONE’S WALLET
A Booking.com breach exposed personal and reservation data that scammers can use to craft realistic fraud attempts. (Annette Riedl/picture alliance)
How scammers are using stolen booking data
A user who posted the notification on Reddit said that two weeks before receiving it, they got a phishing message on WhatsApp that included their real booking details and personal information. That timing matters. It suggests hackers may have already been using the data before many customers were notified.
It is not clear whether that earlier phishing attempt is directly tied to this specific breach, but it shows how detailed booking information can be used in targeted scams.
That is what makes this breach more dangerous than it first appears. When scammers know where you are staying and when, they can create messages that feel legitimate. A fake alert about a problem with your reservation or a request to confirm payment details suddenly looks real.
How past incidents highlight potential risks
This breach did not happen in a vacuum. In 2024, hackers infected computers at multiple hotels with a type of consumer-grade spyware known as stalkerware. In one documented case, a hotel employee was logged into their Booking.com admin portal when the software captured a screenshot of the screen, exposing visible customer data.
That detail points to a broader issue. In some cases, vulnerabilities may exist not just within a platform, but across the hotels and systems connected to it. The current breach may follow a similar pattern, though the company has not confirmed how the unauthorized access occurred.
To put the scale in context, Booking.com says 6.8 billion bookings have been made through the platform since 2010. Even a small percentage of affected users represents a large number of people.
NEW FBI WARNING REVEALS PHISHING ATTACKS HITTING PRIVATE CHATS
A Booking.com breach exposed personal and reservation data that scammers can use to craft realistic fraud attempts. Security experts warn travelers to verify any message about their stay. (martin-dm/Getty Images)
Ways to stay safe after the Booking.com breach
You don’t have to swear off travel apps to protect yourself. A few targeted steps go a long way.
1) Check for an official notification
Check your email for a message from Booking.com. If you received one, take it seriously rather than filing it away. The company says it has updated PINs for affected reservations, but your account itself may still need attention.
2) Update your password now
Change your Booking.com password, especially if you reuse it anywhere else. Credential stuffing attacks are common after breaches, and reused passwords make it easy for hackers to break into other accounts. A password manager can help you create and store strong, unique passwords so you are not relying on the same one across multiple sites. Check out the best expert-reviewed password managers of 2026 at Cyberguy.com.
3) Turn on two-factor authentication
Enable two-factor authentication (2FA) if you haven’t already. It adds a step, but it also blocks access even if someone has your password.
4) Consider identity theft protection
Even though financial data was not accessed, exposed personal details can still be used in scams or identity theft attempts. An identity protection service can monitor your information, alert you to suspicious activity and provide support if your identity is compromised. See my tips and best picks on Best Identity Theft Protection at Cyberguy.com.
5) Watch for highly targeted phishing messages
Be skeptical of any message that references your booking details, whether it arrives by email, text or WhatsApp. Legitimate companies rarely ask you to click a link and re-enter payment information. Hackers with your booking data can write convincing fakes that look urgent.
6) Verify bookings through official channels
If you get a message about your reservation, do not click the link. Open the Booking.com app or type the website address manually. You can also contact the hotel directly using the number listed on its official website.
7) Add a safety net in case you click something malicious
If you accidentally click a suspicious link, strong antivirus software can help detect malicious websites or downloads before they cause damage. Look for tools that offer real-time protection and phishing detection, not just basic virus scans. Get my picks for the best 2026 antivirus protection winners for your Windows, Mac, Android & iOS devices at Cyberguy.com.
8) Limit how your personal data is exposed online
Data brokers collect and sell personal details like your phone number and email address. That makes it easier for scammers to connect stolen booking data to a real person. Removing your information from these sites with a data removal service can reduce how often you are targeted. Check out my top picks for data removal services and get a free scan to find out if your personal information is already out on the web by visiting Cyberguy.com.
9) Report anything suspicious quickly
If you receive a phishing attempt that includes your real reservation details, contact Booking.com directly and report the message to your phone carrier or email provider. Reporting helps shut down scams faster.
Kurt’s key takeaways
Data breaches at major travel platforms are uncomfortable precisely because travel feels personal. Your itinerary, your accommodation and your plans are wrapped up in those booking details, and now someone else may have a copy. The good news is that financial information and home addresses were not part of this breach. The bad news is that the stolen data is detailed enough to be weaponized in targeted phishing attacks, and there’s evidence that it already has been. Booking.com updated its customers, reset PINs for affected reservations and publicly confirmed the incident. That’s more transparency than many companies offer. But the fact that users were receiving phishing messages on WhatsApp two weeks before the formal notification went out is worth sitting with. You can’t control whether the platform you use gets breached. You can control whether you’re an easy target once your data is out there.
How much responsibility should companies like Booking.com take when your personal data fuels scams? Let us know by writing to us at Cyberguy.com.
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I’ve recommended several OLED gaming monitors to readers over the years, and I’ve finally taken my own advice to buy one. Alienware’s new 27-inch 1440p QD-OLED has all the features that I want and a low $350 price that was too tempting to ignore.
The AW2726DM model has five things that make it stand out for the price: a 1440p QD-OLED screen with lush contrast, a fast 240Hz refresh rate, a semi-glossy screen coating to enhance details, a low-profile design without flashy RGB LEDs, and a great warranty (three years with coverage for burn-in).
I’ve been using Alienware’s new monitor for a couple days, and I’ve already spent hours with it playing Marathon. It was my first opportunity to see Bungie’s new first-person extraction shooter in its full HDR glory, and I can never go back. Switching on HDR wasn’t automatic, though it already looked so much better than my IPS panel without being activated.
Enabling it transformed how Marathon looked for the better, but made everything else about the OS look pretty washed-out. It’s a Windows issue, not an Alienware issue. It’s easy to enable HDR every time I launch a game and disable it afterward with the Windows + Alt + B keyboard shortcut, but unfortunately triggers HDR for all connected displays. This includes my IPS monitor that imbues everything with a terrible gray hue when HDR is on. So, using the system settings is the best way to adjust HDR for just the QD-OLED.
I landed on this QD-OLED after having spent a ton of time researching pricier models. The unanimous takeaway from reviewers was that LG’s Tandem RGB WOLED panels are some of the brightest out there, but also tend to exhibit lousy gray uniformity in dark scenes. QD-OLED monitors, on the other hand, offer slightly better contrast than WOLED and don’t suffer from those same uniformity issues. However, blacks sometimes appear as dark purple in bright rooms on QD-OLED panels, meaning they’re ideal for rooms that don’t have a bunch of light bouncing around.
There’s no perfect choice, and honestly I got tired of doing research, so I jumped in with the cheapest OLED. I’m glad that I did. Shopping for an OLED gaming monitor can be hard, but it can also be this easy. AOC makes a model that’s discounted to $339.99 at the time of publishing, and its specs are comparable.
As expected, the AW2726DM isn’t a cutting-edge monitor. Its QD-OLED panel isn’t as fast or as bright as some other pricier options, and it doesn’t have USB ports for connecting accessories. Considering its low price, it’s easy for me to overlook those omissions. I’d have a much harder time accepting them in a pricier display.
The fact that I mostly use my computer for text-based work at The Verge is what prevented me from upgrading to an OLED monitor. My 1440p IPS monitor is bright, it’s good at showing text clearly, and it has a fast refresh rate for gaming. Alienware’s QD-OLED is less bright, and some might be bothered by how text looks (I have to really squint to see the slight fringing from this QD-OLED’s subpixel layout). But I have a life outside of work, which includes playing a lot of PC games. That’s the slice of myself I bought this monitor for, and I’m so happy I did.
Photography by Cameron Faulkner / The Verge
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