Kevin Roose has a new book out, The AGI Chronicles, and David Pierce used this week’s Installer to recommend it. Pierce, editor-at-large at The Verge and co-host of Vergecast, said the book is thoroughly reported, taught him a great deal and clarifies much about the AI industry. The recommendation came in Installer No. 148, dated Oct. 17, 2026, alongside a look at new tech documentaries and a batch of gadgets.
Roose and Casey Newton are preparing to launch a new show called Machine Gods, expected sometime next week, according to the newsletter. Pierce noted that fans of Hard Fork would want to listen. He also examined how Roose manages his workflow, including Roose’s homescreen and the apps he relies on.
Roose described his phone as an iPhone 15 Pro that barely works, with poor battery life and full storage, and said he is waiting to preorder the Duo. He said he mostly dictates rather than types, using Superwhisper and Voice Memos for nearly everything. He also built his own Pocket replacement called Stash and runs a group of AI agents: Skynet for personal tasks, Hootie for work through an app called Town that Newton introduced him to, and Nancy, a Muse agent that trades Kalshi on his behalf and has lost him $41 so far.
His app lineup includes Voice Memos, WhatsApp, Signal, Spotify, Google Maps, Safari, Day One, Brick, Stash, Superwhisper, Substack, Slack, Town, Apple Notes, Phone, Gmail and Messages. He sorts them into a red flags folder for social media and other distractions, a green flags folder for enriching tools, and an AI folder for his bots.
The newsletter also gathered picks from its community. Chris praised the markdown writing app Em for working well with Ghost, and Sai reported excitement over Bose Wired Earbuds. Martha recommended Shelf & Story for finding books for kids, while pegasusisme called Bingers, made by the founder of TV Time, a favorite media tracker. Shane finished the latest season of Jet Lag: The Game and called it possibly the best yet, and Jonathan does an annual listen of Snow Crash. Connor is playing Fire Emblem: Fortune’s Weave, and Scott is hooked on small roguelikes such as Combolands and Ultrapool, played on the Steam Deck with mouse tweaks.
Pierce also mentioned reading about Marc Andreessen and the future of math, and about Mike Tomlin and Citizens United. He wrote about reminiscing over MySpace and listening to the Pet Shop Boys’ new Alan Turing album and Dwarkesh Patel’s thoughts on AI. He said he has been shopping for tripods to hold his phone for social videos.
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