Hi! Welcome to Installer No. 89, your guide to the best and Verge-iest stuff in the world. My name is Jay Peters, and I will be taking care of Installer while David is on parental leave. All of us here at The Verge are very excited for him and his family, and he’ll be back later this year.
Technology
Foldables are in and suddenly really thin
It’s a huge honor to be writing this. I look forward to Installer every week to see what awesome things David is obsessed with and what you all are into. (Thanks to everyone who sent over their favorite non-famous apps to get me started. Keep reading for some of those!) I’m really excited to keep the party going. (If you’re new here, welcome, and also you can read all the old editions at the Installer homepage.)
This week, as I am at around this time every year, I’ve been obsessed with the annual Summer Games Done Quick speedrunning marathon. If you’ve never watched, the event is an annual, weeklong, always-on livestream of people playing video games at an extremely high level to raise money for charity. Throughout the week, I’ll tune in when I have a moment and then find myself watching somebody obliterate a beloved classic or a game that I’ve never heard of.
The show, which you can watch for free on Twitch, typically ends very early in the morning on Sunday, and you can watch replays on the Games Done Quick YouTube channel. My two favorite runs so far have been a Beat Saber showcase and a nail-biter Cuphead race. (If you have any suggested runs I should watch, let me know — maybe I’ll feature them in a future Installer!)
Anyway, let’s dive in. This week, I have for you some new Samsung foldable phones, a check-in with the developer of one of the great Reddit apps, and more.
(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, tell them to subscribe here. It’s free, and you get it a full day early!)
- Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7: Foldables have never really interested me, but even I am extremely impressed by just how thin the Z Fold 7 looks. But then I look at the price: $1,999, a $100 increase from the Z Fold 6! Too rich for my blood. The Z Flip 7, with its edge-to-edge cover display, also seems like a good upgrade.
- Samsung Galaxy Watch 8: As Victoria Song said, “the squircle has taken over”: Samsung’s new Galaxy Watch 8 and Watch 8 Classic now have circle faces set in rounded square bodies. The change means the watches can sit flatter on your wrist, which sounds like a good thing to me; I’ll always take a thinner watch over a bulkier one.
- Nothing Phone 3: This was technically announced last week, but Installer took the week off for the July 4th holiday in the US, so I’m including it now. Nothing is touting this phone as its “first true flagship” — though perhaps the most noticeable thing about it is its unusual camera layout.
- Nothing Headphone 1: Nothing announced its first pair of over-ear headphones last week, too, and they seem like a decent pair of cans. The translucent design isn’t my cup of tea, but props to Nothing for trying something funky and new.
- Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3 + 4: This game puts remakes of two classics into one package, and it’s awesome. I’ve been playing on my Switch 2 — where it runs pretty well! — and have had a blast reliving my youth. Turns out that I’m pretty rusty now, but thankfully, the game has some helpful settings to make things easier for the less skilled among us.
- HBO Max: Max is HBO Max again, like it probably always should have been, even though HBO Max isn’t a great name, either.
- Perplexity’s Comet browser: The AI “answer” engine’s new browser naturally uses Perplexity as its main search engine but also has an AI assistant built in. Browsers could be the next big turf war for AI companies, and Perplexity is beating OpenAI to the punch. There is a catch, though: right now, it’s only available to subscribers of Perplexity’s $200-per-month subscription.
- Anker’s Nano Wireless Car Charger: This new car charger with a long, flexible arm looks like a super useful and malleable way to mount your phone inside your car. I don’t even own a car and I want this.
- Superman: I don’t have any strong feelings about Superman or DC Comics, but it seems like James Gunn’s new
DC cinematic universe Hail Maryfilm is actually pretty good. The Fantastic Four: First Steps looks great, too — 2025 is shaping up to be a big superhero summer.
If you followed the Reddit protests in 2023, then you probably recognize the name Christian Selig. He was the developer of the beloved Apollo for Reddit iOS app, but he became a central figure of the protests because Reddit’s API changes were going to be so cost-prohibitive that they forced him to shut Apollo down.
I’ve gotten to know Selig, and nowadays, he works on an app called Pixel Pals, is an advisor to the new Digg, and recently posted a great PC build video that has more than 2.5 million views. (Yes, he does poke fun at another, let’s say, infamous PC build video.) I got to catch up with him to learn about his homescreen and what he’s into.
Image: Christian Selig
The phone: iPhone 15 Pro Blue Titanium 128 GB
The wallpaper: I’m pretty sure it’s just something random someone posted on Twitter ages ago that I saved. But I love how simple it is, and I love how it looks on the home screen with the default iOS blur applied.
The apps: I try to keep things simple and positioned in an easy-to-reach area. I don’t keep social media apps on my phone in an attempt to be healthier, so it’s mostly things that are useful: vehicle apps (still a bit cold in Canada, so gotta love being able to preheat your vehicle), with Overcast for podcasts, Microsoft To Do (née Wunderlist) for my to-dos, ChatGPT because it’s 2025, YouTube because I spend way too much time there, Pixel Pals because it’s an app I build so I like to have it nice and handy, the Chess.com app for passing some time, and the alpha for Digg, which has been a ton of fun to use.
I also asked Christian to share a few things he’s into right now:
- I’ve gotten into chess lately, and that’s been a ton of fun to play around with and learn as a total noob.
- I’ve been digitizing old VHS and Hi8 tapes from my childhood and that has been such a massive rabbit hole to go down, but so, so cool and satisfying to see the results of.
- I’m super into all things solar and battery technology. I have a very amateur setup at my apartment with our very limited space, but my partner and I bought land recently and are excited to go down the solar route and hopefully gain some energy independence.
And about his role at Digg:
- What an advisor means in this case is basically just being brutally honest with the team on what I think about their mobile app (what is great, what sucks, what could be improved) as well as advising on their developer strategy as they get into that in the future. No bullshit, they’ve been phenomenally receptive and humble in getting feedback.
- As for why I got on board, I’ve just kind of been sad about the modern state of community in social networks. Even outside of the Reddit API stuff, Reddit itself just feels more and more lately like a corporate shell of its former fun, vibrant community-based self. Kevin Rose seemed so jazzed about the possibility of imagining a community for the people of the future, and that really spoke to me as something that I also wanted to see exist in the world.
- As you can imagine, a lot of folks have pitched me on “Reddit but better!” pie-in-the-sky ideas over the years. Kevin was the first one to come to me with concrete plans for a modern, community-based platform that felt like it had actual wood behind the arrow. And having now talked to the folks that make up the team at “New Digg,” I feel that even more so. They’ve got some really bright people.
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, this post on Threads, and this post on Bluesky.
This week’s section is a mix of everyone’s favorite non-famous apps and some more typical recommendations.
“I want to give a shoutout to my favorite mobile game designer who’s based here in Germany: Arnold Rauers and his little studio Tiny Touchtales develop some beautiful, addictive light strategy games. My favorites are Card Thief, Geo Gods, and Miracle Merchant.” — Nick
“I use Panic’s Nova to make websites and truly love it. Probably my favorite app. Mimestream is also fantastic! Can’t wait for the iPhone version.” — Jeanne
“My favorite non-famous app is Live Soccer TV. Shows you the complete worldwide soccer schedule, and the list of broadcast networks/platforms in each county airing the game. Been on my home screen for ages now. It simply does what it says it does. No fluff and for 5 dollars a year, I pay for the ad free upgrade. Perfect app. Hope it never changes.” — Dustin
“Obsidian and Anybox.” — Peter
“I’m constantly shocked whenever recommendations come up for recipe apps that Crouton is not mentioned. To me, if Apple were to have made a recipe app themselves, this would be it. Even better, it’s cheap — only $14.99/yr and has some incredibly cool features like ‘hands free’ mode that allows you to simply blink your eyes to move to the next step of a recipe for those times when you have chicken juice all over your fingers.” — Justin
“All of Claire North’s books are fantastic! Her stuff is super original: sci-fi-ish but more about big ideas like time, memory, and identity. She does a really good job of bringing out the nuances and real-life feelings and consequences of the roles her characters have. It’s smart and emotional without being heavy, and her characters always stick with me. The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August or Touch are great places to start.” — Dave
“I know it’s been out for a while, but my whole family is addicted to Marvel Snap. The new season with The Fantastic Four is really fun so far and this gives my kids things that help them tickle their brain with logic. Also, all the different variants for the cards are really cool to see.” — WALL-E
“Been using Folio as my Pocket replacement and have been quite happy.” — Carter
“All four The Trip movies are streaming on Criterion Channel. Very funny, very mean comedies — and the longer BBC episodic cuts are also available too, if you want the extended play version (which you will).” — Kevin
“Despite my backlog, I’m checking out A Solitaire Mystery, as I have no choice but to play anything from the Baba Is You developer.” — Tristan
“Just made the switch to the Pixel line from iOS, and I’m really digging trying a new OS. Outside of that, I’ve been taking a slight tech break and going back to physically painting, reading paperbacks, and being present.” — EmpireStrikesBacktotheFuture
All week, I have been mourning the recent end of the latest series of Taskmaster, a British comedy show where five comedians must all complete absurd tasks and be graded on them by the show’s mercurial host. This batch of episodes, series 19, was my favorite set yet: the cast of comedians (the first to feature an American, Jason Mantzoukas) were all hilarious, and the tasks were ridiculous.
If you’re looking for something new and funny to watch, I can’t recommend series 19 enough. Best of all, you can watch every series of the show for free on YouTube. Your time starts now.
Color isn’t essential in an e-reader, but let’s be honest, it’s a nice perk that can bring digital books, magazines, comics, cookbooks, and other publications to life. The catch is that color ebook readers tend to be substantially pricier, which makes today’s deals stand out. Right now, the Kindle Colorsoft (16GB) and Kobo Libra Colour are matching their lowest prices to date, with the Amazon e-reader going for $169.99 ($80 off) at Amazon and Best Buy, and the Libra Colour going for $199.99 ($30 off) via Rakuten’s online storefront.
At their core, both are excellent e-readers with 7-inch, 300ppi E Ink displays, which drop to 150ppi when viewing color. The Colorsoft’s display is slightly more vibrant in most instances, but the difference isn’t dramatic. Each also offers IPX8 water resistance, so you don’t need to worry about spills and can comfortably read in the bath or by the pool.
Which one makes more sense for you largely depends on where you buy your books, how much storage you need, and whether you like to take notes. The Colorsoft is great if you’re heavily embedded in Amazon’s ecosystem, as buying and accessing Kindle books is intuitive and doesn’t require any sideloading. As the more affordable option in Amazon’s lineup, the standard Colorsoft delivers a nearly identical reading experience to the Signature Edition, and it supports Amazon’s “Send to Alexa Plus” feature, which lets you send notes or documents to Amazon’s AI-powered assistant for summaries, to-do lists, reminders, and more. The downside is that it lacks wireless charging and an auto-adjusting front light — which are standard on the step-up model — and comes with 16GB of storage instead of 32GB.
That said, if I didn’t already own so many Kindle books, the Libra Colour would be my pick. It offers double the storage at 32GB and includes intuitive physical page-turn buttons. You can also write notes while reading, given that it offers stylus support, and it includes built-in notebook templates, as well as the ability to convert handwriting to typed text. It also supports EPUB and a wider range of file formats, and lets you save articles for offline reading with Instapaper. And it also offers adjustable warm lighting, which makes reading at night a little easier on the eyes.
NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!
A humanoid robot is now rallying tennis shots with a human in real time. It runs without a script or remote control, so it can react instantly on a tennis court.
The robot stands about 4 feet tall, giving it a compact, human-like frame. Galbot Robotics released a video showing its robot going shot-for-shot with a human player. The system behind it is called LATENT and runs on the Unitree G1.
And it is not just returning the ball. It is moving, adjusting and competing during live play.
Sign up for my FREE CyberGuy Report
Get my best tech tips, urgent security alerts, and exclusive deals delivered straight to your inbox. Plus, you’ll get instant access to my Ultimate Scam Survival Guide – free when you join my CYBERGUY.COM newsletter.
CHINA’S COMPACT HUMANOID ROBOT SHOWS OFF BALANCE AND FLIPS
A humanoid robot rallies tennis shots with a human in real time, reacting without scripts or remote control during live play. (Galbot Robotics)
Why this tennis robot is different from others
Most athletic robots you have seen follow scripts. They perform pre-programmed actions or rely on a remote control. This one operates differently. It reacts to a human opponent in real time, tracking fast-moving balls, shifting across the court and returning shots with surprising accuracy. It also adjusts to changing trajectories and unpredictable shots during rallies. Researchers say it can sustain long rallies with millisecond-level reactions and full-body coordination. That marks a major step forward.
How the AI learned to play tennis
Training a robot to play tennis is extremely complex. Tennis involves:
- Tennis ball speeds can reach up to 67 miles per hour
- Split-second racket contact
- Constant movement across a large court
Capturing complete human gameplay data is difficult. So the researchers used a different method.
Training the robot using motion fragments
Instead of recording full matches, they focused on small segments of movement:
- Forehands
- Backhands
- Side steps
They gathered about five hours of motion data from five players. The sessions took place on a compact 10-by-16-foot court. That space is more than 17 times smaller than a standard tennis court.
RESTAURANT ROBOT GOES HAYWIRE, SENDS TABLEWARE FLYING BEFORE BREAKING OUT IN DANCE MOVES
Humanoid robots designed by Galbot Robotics select items from a shelf at the Shanghai New Expo Center in Shanghai, China, on July 26, 2025. Galbot Robotics also designed the tennis-playing robot that learns movement fragments and applies them in live competition. (Ying Tang/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
How the robot plays tennis during live rallies
The system first learns individual movements. Then it combines them into coordinated sequences. That allows the robot to:
- Move toward the ball
- Strike it with control
- Recover and reposition
To improve performance, the team trained the model in simulation. They varied physical conditions such as mass, friction and aerodynamics. This helps the robot adapt to real-world unpredictability. As a result, the system responds dynamically instead of following a fixed routine.
How well does it actually perform against humans?
In testing, the system achieved up to 96% success on forehand shots in simulation. In real-world trials, the robot can sustain rallies with a human and consistently return the ball across the net.
Watching the demo, it appears competitive. At times, the robot places shots away from the human player. That suggests more than a simple reaction. It points toward early forms of decision-making.
There are still limits. The robot can look unstable at times. Its motion is not yet as fluid as a trained athlete. High or unpredictable shots may still present challenges. Even so, the progress is clear.
Why this matters beyond tennis
This breakthrough goes far beyond tennis. It shows how robots can learn complex human skills without perfect data. The same approach could apply to:
- Football
- Badminton
- Industrial work
- Search and rescue
Any task that lacks complete motion data could benefit from this method. That is the bigger picture.
WORLD’S FASTEST HUMANOID ROBOT RUNS 22 MPH
A robot dances at the launch ceremony of a Galbot Robotics retail store in Beijing, China, on August 7, 2025. The company has also designed a 4-foot robot that returns tennis shots with millisecond reactions and full-body coordination. (VCG/VCG via Getty Images)
Could robots compete with humans one day?
The path forward is becoming clearer. Today, the robot rallies. Next, it competes. In time, robots could train with or challenge professional athletes. Exhibition matches between humans and machines may become part of the sport. That future no longer feels far away.
Take my quiz: How safe is your online security?
Think your devices and data are truly protected? Take this quick quiz to see where your digital habits stand. From passwords to Wi-Fi settings, you’ll get a personalized breakdown of what you’re doing right and what needs improvement. Take my Quiz here: Cyberguy.com.
Kurt’s key takeaways
This demo shows how quickly things are changing. Robots are no longer stuck following scripts. They can now react, adjust and compete in real situations. What used to feel far off is starting to show up right in front of us.
So here is the question: If a robot could outplay you on the court, would you still want to compete, or would you rather train with it? Let us know by writing to us at Cyberguy.com.
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP
Sign up for my FREE CyberGuy Report
Get my best tech tips, urgent security alerts, and exclusive deals delivered straight to your inbox. Plus, you’ll get instant access to my Ultimate Scam Survival Guide – free when you join my CYBERGUY.COM newsletter.
Copyright 2026 CyberGuy.com. All rights reserved.
First came the AI beauty pageant. Then the AI music contests. Now, there is an award for AI Personality of the Year — perhaps the inevitable next step for the AI influencer economy as it transforms from quirky novelty into a serious and lucrative industry.
The contest, a joint venture between generative AI studio OpenArt and AI-powered creator platform Fanvue, with backing from AI voice company ElevenLabs, opens on Monday and runs for a month. The organizers said it is intended to “celebrate the creative talent ‘behind’ AI Influencers” and recognize their growing commercial and cultural clout.
Contestants will compete for a total prize fund of $20,000, which will be split between an overall winner and individual categories of fitness, lifestyle, comedian, music and dance entertainer, and fictional cartoon, anime, or fantasy personality. Victors will be celebrated at an event in May that the organizers are dubbing the “‘Oscars’ for AI personalities.”
To enter, you must develop your AI influencer on OpenArt’s platform and submit it at www.AIpersonality.ai. You’ll be asked for social media handles across TikTok, X, YouTube, and Instagram, as well as the story behind the character, your motivations for creating it, and details of any brand work.
Among those assessing contestants are 13‑time Emmy‑winning comedy writer Gil Rief, the creators of Spanish AI model Aitana Lopez, and Christopher “Topher” Townsend, the MAGA rapper behind AI-generated gospel singer Solomon Ray. According to a copy of the judges’ briefing seen by The Verge, contestants will be scored on four criteria: quality, social clout, brand appeal, and the inspiration behind the avatar. Specific points include reliably engaging with followers, portraying a consistent look across social channels, accurate details like having the “right number of fingers and thumbs,” and having “an authentic narrative” behind the avatar.
The contest is open to established creators and novices alike, though existing AI influencers will still need to submit material produced on OpenArt’s platform, Matt Jones, head of brand at Fanvue, told The Verge.
Despite being designed to celebrate creators of virtual influencers, Jones said that entrants don’t need to publicly identify themselves. “If a person who created this amazing piece of work wants nothing to do with the press or to expose themselves or to have their name out there, that’s obviously fine,” he said. “There would be no need to thrust anybody into the limelight here. We would just celebrate the piece of work.”
That creators can remain anonymous feels odd for a contest judging authenticity, particularly in an AI influencer ecosystem built on fictional people, fake personas, and fabricated backstories. That same anonymity has also helped grifts flourish with little accountability, from the AI white nationalist rapper Danny Bones to MAGA fantasy girl Jessica Foster.
There’s familiar baggage too, including persistent questions about originality, whether AI-generated work, or even a likeness, has been lifted from real creators, and whether these tools simply reproduce the same old biases in synthetic form. Organizer Fanvue has already faced criticism for this in the past: in 2024, a Guardian columnist described its “Miss AI” beauty pageant as something that “take(s) every toxic gendered beauty norm and bundle(s) them up into a completely unrealistic package.”
To Fanvue’s Jones, creators inevitably leave something of themselves in the AI characters they make. “You can’t help but put a little bit of yourself into the stories that you tell and the characters that you make,” he said, urging creators to “lean into that.” The idea feels at home in the influencer economy: not strictly real, but a form of synthetic authenticity the internet already knows how to handle.
Follow topics and authors from this story to see more like this in your personalized homepage feed and to receive email updates.
Wyoming2 minutes ago
BLM and Wyoming Honor Farm to Offer Trained Wild Horses and Burros in May
Crypto8 minutes ago
Fintech Stock SoFi Technologies Just Proved That the Ultimate Cryptocurrency Has a Clear Use Case | The Motley Fool
Finance14 minutes ago
Iran issues its largest-ever currency denomination as accelerating inflation ravages a financial sector deemed a ‘Ponzi scheme’ even before the war | Fortune
Fitness20 minutes ago
I Tried Jennifer Aniston’s 10-Minute Arm Workout. These Exercises Had My Upper Body on Fire
Movie Reviews32 minutes ago
Movie Review – Pretty Lethal (2026)
Florida1 year ago
Florida High School Football Rankings: Top 25 teams – Oct. 21
Oregon2 years ago
How old is Bo Nix? What to know about Oregon quarterback ahead of 2024 NFL Draft
Connecticut2 years ago
Cleary's 21 help Le Moyne down Central Connecticut State 69-64 in OT
Virginia2 years ago
99th annual Pony Swim held in Virginia
Indiana2 years ago
Indiana Members Credit Union announced as new anchor tenant at Bottleworks District
News50 minutes ago
See TSA Wait Times at Major U.S. Airports
Politics2 hours ago
Senate hopeful with deep Dem ties slapped with scathing complaint targeting alleged family payout ‘scheme’
World3 hours ago
How the Iran war is about to hit your wallet
News4 hours ago
Suspect in slaying of Loyola University student was in the country illegally, officials say
News13 hours ago
Video: Plane Collides With Vehicle at LaGuardia Airport
-
Detroit, MI5 days agoDrummer Brian Pastoria, longtime Detroit music advocate, dies at 68
-
Oklahoma1 week agoFamily rallies around Oklahoma father after head-on crash
-
Georgia1 week agoHow ICE plans for a detention warehouse pushed a Georgia town to fight back | CNN Politics
-
Science1 week agoFederal EPA moves to roll back recent limits on ethylene oxide, a carcinogen
-
Alaska1 week agoPolice looking for man considered ‘armed and dangerous’
-
Movie Reviews5 days ago‘Youth’ Twitter review: Ken Karunaas impresses audiences; Suraj Venjaramoodu adds charm; music wins praise | – The Times of India
-
Science1 week agoLong COVID leaves thousands of L.A. county residents sick, broke and ignored
-
Education1 week agoVideo: Turning Point USA Clubs Expand to High Schools Across America