David Pierce opens Installer No. 151 with a confession that will resonate with a certain slice of gamers: he has never finished The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. The Ocarina of Time remake is the centerpiece of this week’s installment, and Pierce says watching friends and colleagues rediscover Hyrule has finally pushed him to commit to a full playthrough.
The newsletter, a weekly guide to the best and most Verge-worthy stuff in tech and entertainment, mixes personal enthusiasm with a curated list of recommendations. This edition leans into nostalgia and practical gear, with a few surprises along the way.
From Hyrule to the Big Screen
Beyond Zelda, Pierce highlights Godzilla Minus Zero, the sequel to 2023’s Godzilla Minus One. He notes that the first film was both a hit and a surprisingly strong movie, and that the follow-up arrived with higher expectations. According to Pierce, the consensus is that it lives up to them. He admits he is not usually a monster-movie viewer, but this series works for him.
On the creative-tools side, Affinity for iPad gets a mention. Canva’s app now brings all its tools together in one place, mirroring the Mac experience. Pierce, who describes himself as no designer, is nevertheless excited to use it for editing, citing its Apple Pencil integration and touch-friendly features.
Gear for the Phone and the Road
The roundup includes two accessories aimed at iPhone Duo buyers. The Moft Dynamic Folio Case is described as a bit complicated to figure out but cleverly designed to make the phone more useful. Pierce guesses it will outperform Apple’s own case-and-kickstand offering. The Peak Design Kickstand Travel Battery is the item Pierce says he is buying this week, intended for those moments when extra power is needed while watching something on a plane or train.
For the 3D-printing curious, the Bambu Lab H3C earns a nod. At $2,500, it is steep for Pierce’s wallet, but he agrees with his colleague Sean Hollister that it represents the future of 3D printing: simpler, more foolproof, and accessible even to self-described goofuses.
Pens, Headphones, and a Spec Monster
A video ranking the world’s most popular journaling pens by Peter McKinnon gets a recommendation. Pierce says the breakdown of a few dozen supposedly good pens is excellent and admits he bought more than one pen after watching.
Instagram Edits for Mac also makes the list. Pierce, who had just gotten comfortable with CapCut, likes the mobile Edits app and finds the desktop version even more powerful. It is free, which he frames as his path to finally taking down Cristiano Ronaldo.
The Sony MDR-3R headphones earn respect for taking the retro trend to its logical conclusion: Sony has released the headphones from the original Walkman. Pierce warns wearers may look a bit like Nathan Fielder in You Can See Everything, and at $60 they are not cheap, but he finds something incredibly ’70s-era cool about them.
Finally, the Motorola Signature 27 is called a tour de force of a smartphone spec sheet, with a monster camera, the brightest screen, and a giant battery. Pierce also notes it is cool to see a flagship phone with support for GrapheneOS. It is expensive and only shipping someday, but he likes that phones like this exist.
A Homescreen Built for Reading
The Screen Share section features Tristan Homsi, one of the cofounders of Readwise. Homsi uses an iPhone 13, which he chose last year to better understand the median device among Readwise users and to catch performance issues that developers on newer phones might miss. He notes that iOS 26 does not work amazingly on the older device, with lagging and janky animations, and floats a conspiracy theory that each successive iOS becomes more resource-hungry.
His homescreen places all three Readwise apps front and center, with Readwise Books in widget form at the top. He is currently reading Apple in China. Other apps include BeReal, which he still posts to almost daily and has nearly five years of memories in, and Clearspace, which helps him stay off social media. He also mentions a vibecoded app called Auto Eight to control his Eight Sleep mattress, plus Strava and Runmeter for running and Bay Wheels for commuting around San Francisco.
Homsi recommends several niche blogs, including Slime Mold Time Mold, Gwern.net, Deepfates, and Dynomight. For fiction, he praises the Red Knight series for readers who enjoy dense, dark fantasy. His top nonfiction pick is The Beginning of Infinity, which he says changed the way he sees the world.
Community Picks and a Search Tip
The Crowdsourced section gathers recommendations from readers. One is reading Dungeon Crawler Carl and finds the Duo a perfect foldable reading device, though they plan to take a break to save Princess Zelda. Another is trying CutWire’s Drift video editor as an alternative to CapCut and is surprised by its quality. A Kobo alternative called Kobalt gets a shout-out for its clean interface, and Lens Browser is recommended by former Arc Search users as a mobile replacement.
Other readers mention a Boox Picco for reading Fellowship of the Ring and an economics textbook, a treadmill motivation strategy for finally starting Barry, and a mix of Zelda, World of Warcraft, and the free opening of 007 First Light. One reader is playing the Final Fantasy Resonance demo on Switch 2 while waiting for Ocarina of Time to arrive, and another is catching up on Avatar: Seven Havens.
Pierce closes with a note on Kagi, his default search engine for the past few years. He calls it what Google used to be and says the $10 monthly cost has been the main hurdle. This week, Kagi began offering 50 free searches before requiring a sign-up, plus 100 more upon registration, even before payment. For heavy searchers who miss the old Google, Pierce suggests giving it a try.
