Each week, David Pierce distills the web’s finest tech, leisure, and app discoveries right into a single, opinionated information — and Installer No. 136 from The Verge may be one of many extra eclectic editions but. From an unexpectedly nice movie to contemporary app updates and a gadget Pierce admits he loves with out understanding why, this week’s version covers lots of floor in probably the most private method attainable.
Key takeaways
- Installer No. 136, printed July 18, 2026, is David Pierce’s weekly expertise and leisure suggestions information at The Verge.
- Pierce calls The Odyssey the film of the summer season — stunning even himself after getting in with low expectations.
- The version highlights a notable replace to a preferred note-taking app and a brand new app constructed for organizing pictures.
- Pierce is at present recording the subsequent season of the Model Historical past podcast, with the present season’s finale dropping on Sunday.
- Readers can submit their very own picks and proposals on to [email protected].
What Installer No. 136 is definitely about
The Installer publication has constructed a quiet, loyal following at The Verge by doing one thing most tech publications don’t hassle with: sounding like an actual individual. Pierce opens every version with a unfastened private replace — what he’s studying, enjoying, watching, or fidgeting with that week — earlier than rolling into the precise suggestions. That blend of intimacy and curation is the entire level.
This week’s private stock is characteristically wide-ranging. Pierce has been deep in manufacturing on the subsequent season of Model Historical past, The Verge’s podcast — with the present season’s finale touchdown on Sunday. He’s additionally been exploring new Knockout Tour routes in Mario Kart World, establishing a Flipper Busy Bar (which he describes as one thing he loves however hasn’t discovered a use for but), and taking place rabbit holes on knowledge middle heists, the origin story of Calvin and Hobbes, and an episode of Revisionist Historical past that apparently taught him extra about Staten Island than he ever meant to know.
There’s additionally a detour by the historical past of the very first chatbot and a few studying on Yard Baseball. It’s the type of week that may really feel overwhelming in a gathering however reads effortlessly in a publication.
The Odyssey: A standout suggestion
The headline suggestion this week is The Odyssey, and Pierce doesn’t bury the lead. “I’ll be trustworthy: I anticipated this film to not be nice,” he writes. The reasoning was sound sufficient — an bold story and the trustworthy acknowledgment that not each bold movie connects. However his verdict landed laborious: flawed.
Calling it the film of the summer season is a big stamp from somebody who covers leisure professionally. Pierce got here in skeptical and left transformed, which is arguably a stronger endorsement than enthusiasm from somebody who was already bought on the premise. For anybody weighing whether or not to see it, that type of reluctant reward tends to journey additional than a glowing evaluate from a fan.
App Updates and New Instruments Value Realizing
A note-taking app will get higher
Pierce flags a significant replace to a preferred note-taking app this week — sufficient to earn a devoted point out within the Drop part. Word-taking apps sit in a aggressive, typically overhyped nook of the productiveness area, so a real enchancment price calling out is extra helpful sign than most app-store launch notes have a tendency to offer.
A brand new technique to manage your pictures
Alongside the notes replace, Pierce spotlights a new picture organizing app. Picture administration is a type of perpetual issues that each platform guarantees to unravel and few truly do — so a contemporary choice aimed particularly at group reasonably than modifying or sharing is price monitoring, particularly if it earns a spot in an version of Installer.
What makes these mentions significant in context is that Pierce isn’t operating a conventional evaluate column. He’s surfacing issues he’s personally used or discovered attention-grabbing that week. That lowers the quantity of what will get by and raises the implied reliability of what does.
Reader Engagement and the Group Behind the Publication
One constant characteristic of Installer is that Pierce treats it as a dialog reasonably than a broadcast. Every version closes with an open invitation: inform him what you’re studying, watching, enjoying, listening to, or soldering collectively. The contact deal with is [email protected], and he actively frames reader enter as the most effective a part of the entire thing.
That posture issues greater than it might sound. In a media setting the place most newsletters are one-directional by design, a columnist who genuinely routes his personal discovery course of by reader ideas creates a suggestions loop that makes the product extra sturdy over time. The ideas he receives presumably feed future editions, which makes the engagement ask really feel like one thing greater than a boilerplate CTA.
If there’s a broader level embedded in what Installer does nicely, it’s this: the publication succeeds not as a result of it covers probably the most floor, however as a result of it covers floor that somebody truly coated first. Pierce’s credibility comes from the specificity of his style, and that specificity solely holds up so long as the suggestions keep genuinely private. Version 136 clears that bar with out a lot problem — and for a weekly column now nicely previous its one hundred and thirtieth entry, that consistency is more durable to keep up than it appears to be like.
FAQ
What’s Installer No. 136 about?
Installer No. 136 is a expertise and leisure information by David Pierce at The Verge, that includes private app picks, gadget discoveries, and leisure suggestions for the week of July 18, 2026.
Which film does David Pierce advocate on this version?
David Pierce highlights The Odyssey as an unexpectedly wonderful movie — calling it the film of the summer season after initially getting in with low expectations.
Are there any app updates talked about?
Sure. The version mentions a notable replace to a preferred note-taking app and a brand new app designed particularly for organizing pictures.
How can readers share their concepts with David Pierce?
Readers can ship their concepts, ideas, and proposals on to [email protected].
Article produced with the help of synthetic intelligence and reviewed by the editorial staff.