Google appears to be moving closer to making Googlebooks a serious product, according to a report from The Verge. The article, published on September 27, 2026, describes the offering as possibly being the real deal. The report was written by Jay Peters, a senior reporter who covers technology and gaming.
The mention of Googlebooks came as part of Installer No. 145, a weekly guide from The Verge to the best and most Verge-worthy things in the world. Peters noted that he flew to San Francisco this week to try out new hardware from Meta, including the Meta VR Glasses. He also listened to Joanna Stern's interview with Mark Zuckerberg and watched an interview with new Apple CEO John Ternus.
Beyond Meta's glasses, the report touched on other products: Remedy's Control sequel and Microsoft's updated Surface Mouse. Peters said he was also revisiting Steve Jobs' "Antennagate" press conference Q&A, playing games on his Steam Deck with Xreal One Pro glasses, and reading Sarah Wynn-Williams' Careless People.
The edition featured Brad Bourque, a member of The Verge's commerce team who joined for a few months to help with deals coverage and has focused on gaming tech. Bourque's homescreen wallpaper is an included Pixel wallpaper of plants in mellow green tones, while his lockscreen is a fan-made Tekken Tag Tournament poster featuring Armor King and Modelo.
The report also gathered recommendations from Installer readers. One reader, vikrael, recommended NostalgiaTV, an app for self-hosted media servers that builds TV channels from a media library and offers a "live" guide and schedule for channel surfing, with automatic channels and custom options. Another, basicalexguy, described playing Fire Emblem: Fortune's Weave in the evenings and reading The Iliad in bits during the week.
Other readers shared their own picks: YG_400 came across Planet Money: A Guide to the Economic Forces That Shape Your Life at a local library, Sabertooth is reading The God of the Woods by Liz Moore, and Ricky returned to photography with a Ricoh GRIII and an Olympus XA2. Peters also noted that his usual tip about eating at familiar restaurants while traveling did not work out during the Meta trip because of a busier schedule and limited eating options on Meta's campus.
More technology news from TechManNews.
