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Image: Ubisoft

Ubisoft has published the PC requirements for Star Wars Outlaws, which is releasing later this month on August 30th, in a post that also points to a new gameplay trailer for the Grand Theft Auto-style space adventure.
The trailer compares the game’s looks when certain features, like DLSS, are turned on versus off. There may not be any major revelations in terms of story or gameplay here, but it could give you an idea of whether you want to upgrade anything for the game or not.

On the hardware side, Outlaws seems fairly forgiving of PCs still using components like the GeForce GTX 1660 GPU or Intel Core i7-8700K CPU. Eurogamer notes that you’ll need DLSS or FSR to run the game at minimum specs.
From Ubisoft’s page:

Minimum
• Visual settings: 1080p/30 FPS/Low preset with upscaler set to quality
• GPU: GeForce GTX 1660 6GB / AMD RX 5600 XT 6GB / Intel Arc a750 8GB (ReBAR ON)
• CPU: INTEL® CORE™ i7-8700K / AMD Ryzen 5 3600
• RAM: 16GB (dual-channel mode)
• OS: Windows 10/11 with DirectX 12
• SSD Storage: 65GB

Recommended
• Visual settings: 1080p/60 FPS/High preset with upscaler set to quality
• GPU: GeForce RTX 3060 8GB / AMD RX 6700 XT 12GB
• CPU: INTEL® CORE™ i5-10400 / AMD Ryzen 5 5600X
• RAM: 16GB (dual-channel mode)
• OS: Windows 10/11 with DirectX 12
• SSD Storage: 65GB

Enthusiast
• Visual settings: 1440p/60 FPS/High preset with upscaler set to quality
• GPU: GeForce RTX 4070 12GB / AMD RX 6800 XT 16GB
• CPU: INTEL® CORE™ i5-11600K / AMD Ryzen 7 5800X
• RAM: 16GB (dual-channel mode)
• OS: Windows 10/11 with DirectX 12
• SSD Storage: 65GB

Ultra
• Visual settings: 4K/60 FPS/Ultra preset with upscaler set to quality
• GPU: GeForce RTX 4080 16GB / AMD RX 7900 XTX 24GB
• CPU: INTEL® CORE™ i7-12700K / AMD Ryzen 7 5800X3D
• RAM: 16GB (dual-channel mode)
• OS: Windows 10/11 with DirectX 12
• SSD Storage: 65GB

Star Wars Outlaws is due out on August 30th for PC (Xbox Series X / S and PS5, too), starting at $69.99 for the Standard Edition, and Ubisoft is offering early access on August 27th for those who buy the Gold ($109.99) or Ultimate ($129.99) editions.

Image: Ubisoft

Ubisoft has published the PC requirements for Star Wars Outlaws, which is releasing later this month on August 30th, in a post that also points to a new gameplay trailer for the Grand Theft Auto-style space adventure.

The trailer compares the game’s looks when certain features, like DLSS, are turned on versus off. There may not be any major revelations in terms of story or gameplay here, but it could give you an idea of whether you want to upgrade anything for the game or not.

On the hardware side, Outlaws seems fairly forgiving of PCs still using components like the GeForce GTX 1660 GPU or Intel Core i7-8700K CPU. Eurogamer notes that you’ll need DLSS or FSR to run the game at minimum specs.

From Ubisoft’s page:

Minimum

• Visual settings: 1080p/30 FPS/Low preset with upscaler set to quality

• GPU: GeForce GTX 1660 6GB / AMD RX 5600 XT 6GB / Intel Arc a750 8GB (ReBAR ON)

• CPU: INTEL® CORE™ i7-8700K / AMD Ryzen 5 3600

• RAM: 16GB (dual-channel mode)

• OS: Windows 10/11 with DirectX 12

• SSD Storage: 65GB

Recommended

• Visual settings: 1080p/60 FPS/High preset with upscaler set to quality

• GPU: GeForce RTX 3060 8GB / AMD RX 6700 XT 12GB

• CPU: INTEL® CORE™ i5-10400 / AMD Ryzen 5 5600X

• RAM: 16GB (dual-channel mode)

• OS: Windows 10/11 with DirectX 12

• SSD Storage: 65GB

Enthusiast

• Visual settings: 1440p/60 FPS/High preset with upscaler set to quality

• GPU: GeForce RTX 4070 12GB / AMD RX 6800 XT 16GB

• CPU: INTEL® CORE™ i5-11600K / AMD Ryzen 7 5800X

• RAM: 16GB (dual-channel mode)

• OS: Windows 10/11 with DirectX 12

• SSD Storage: 65GB

Ultra

• Visual settings: 4K/60 FPS/Ultra preset with upscaler set to quality

• GPU: GeForce RTX 4080 16GB / AMD RX 7900 XTX 24GB

• CPU: INTEL® CORE™ i7-12700K / AMD Ryzen 7 5800X3D

• RAM: 16GB (dual-channel mode)

• OS: Windows 10/11 with DirectX 12

• SSD Storage: 65GB

Star Wars Outlaws is due out on August 30th for PC (Xbox Series X / S and PS5, too), starting at $69.99 for the Standard Edition, and Ubisoft is offering early access on August 27th for those who buy the Gold ($109.99) or Ultimate ($129.99) editions.

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An F1 single-seater during the Formula 1 Live Barcelona Road Show on June 19th, 2024. | Photo: David Zorrakino / Europa Press via Getty Images

Creators whose online identities center around Formula 1 racing have been changing their handles lately, and they seem to be reluctant to say why. But the reason may be because they’re being asked to by F1 itself, who’s rumored to have been sending cease and desist orders to certain creators with monetized accounts that use its branding.
Among the abrupt branding changes was Paddock Project (formerly F1r the Girls), an F1 fan podcast. Paddock didn’t mention receiving a cease and desist letter when announcing the change, instead writing that the new name “reflects where we are and where we’re headed.”

@shelovesvroomss imagine #f1contentcreators ♬ original sound – shelovesvroomss

F1 influencer Mikaela Kostaras, who also recently changed her name (from “shelovesf1” to “shelovesvrooms”) seemed to hint at receiving a cease and desist order in a video asking viewers to “imagine” being told they can’t give away tickets they bought, something she’s recently done. Replying to a comment on the video, she said, “There’s a reason everyone is rebranding rn and it’s not just for funsies.”

@f1toni F1 has been busy during the summer shutdown and F1 creators are bearing the brunt of it – but could they be loosing out on this marketing? #f1 ♬ original sound – Toni | tech & politics of F1

F1 commentator Toni Cowan-Brown said in a video that she’s been “hearing rumblings” about the cease and desist letters for “at least the last six months.” She added that Formula 1 is targeting those “who are using F1 in their branding and who are capitalizing on it,” as well as creators who pretend to somehow be associated with the organization.
Formula 1 did not immediately respond to The Verge’s request for comment.
Cowan-Brown contrasted the approach to the NBA, which doesn’t really go after those who post NBA content online, even when that content includes actual footage from games. League commissioner Adam Silver once said that “for the most part, highlights are marketing.”
Still, Formula 1 has been especially aggressive in protecting its branding in the past, including when it sent a “stack of legal letters” to star driver Lewis Hamilton demanding that he stop posting F1 clips to social media. Later, Liberty Media acquired F1 and relaxed guidelines that forbade drivers and teams from posting clips from the paddock.

An F1 single-seater during the Formula 1 Live Barcelona Road Show on June 19th, 2024. | Photo: David Zorrakino / Europa Press via Getty Images

Creators whose online identities center around Formula 1 racing have been changing their handles lately, and they seem to be reluctant to say why. But the reason may be because they’re being asked to by F1 itself, who’s rumored to have been sending cease and desist orders to certain creators with monetized accounts that use its branding.

Among the abrupt branding changes was Paddock Project (formerly F1r the Girls), an F1 fan podcast. Paddock didn’t mention receiving a cease and desist letter when announcing the change, instead writing that the new name “reflects where we are and where we’re headed.”

F1 influencer Mikaela Kostaras, who also recently changed her name (from “shelovesf1” to “shelovesvrooms”) seemed to hint at receiving a cease and desist order in a video asking viewers to “imagine” being told they can’t give away tickets they bought, something she’s recently done. Replying to a comment on the video, she said, “There’s a reason everyone is rebranding rn and it’s not just for funsies.”

F1 commentator Toni Cowan-Brown said in a video that she’s been “hearing rumblings” about the cease and desist letters for “at least the last six months.” She added that Formula 1 is targeting those “who are using F1 in their branding and who are capitalizing on it,” as well as creators who pretend to somehow be associated with the organization.

Formula 1 did not immediately respond to The Verge’s request for comment.

Cowan-Brown contrasted the approach to the NBA, which doesn’t really go after those who post NBA content online, even when that content includes actual footage from games. League commissioner Adam Silver once said that “for the most part, highlights are marketing.”

Still, Formula 1 has been especially aggressive in protecting its branding in the past, including when it sent a “stack of legal letters” to star driver Lewis Hamilton demanding that he stop posting F1 clips to social media. Later, Liberty Media acquired F1 and relaxed guidelines that forbade drivers and teams from posting clips from the paddock.

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Image: Samar Haddad / The Verge

Laura Mae Martin is a big believer in the settings menu. As Google’s executive productivity advisor, Martin spends much of her time working with other Googlers on improving their productivity and communication systems — and one of the things she often recommends is taking a few minutes to poke through the options. “With your phone, with your email, your Slack, all these things, the features are there, but we don’t take the time to dive into them,” she says. She even thinks you should maybe have to look at settings before you can use the app. “Like, you can’t get into the app unless you spend 10 minutes figuring out what it can do.”

On this episode of The Vergecast, the first in our three-part miniseries about all things productivity and work, we talk to Martin about how she sees things changing. Four years after the pandemic forced us all to work from home, are we finally figuring out remote and hybrid work? Are managers realizing that butts-in-seats isn’t — and maybe was never — a good metric for productivity? And is the era of the hard-charging hustle bro finally giving way to a healthier, more holistic way of thinking about being productive? Martin sees all these things from so many perspectives and has lots of thoughts on everything from communication styles to energy flows.
We also talk about the rise in digital productivity tools like Notion and Slack and why email is still so important — and still so terrible. One of Martin’s jobs at Google is to consult with the teams building Workspace apps like Docs and Gmail, and she has lots of thoughts on how those products work and how they could be better. We also talk about whether AI stands to change the way we get things done and whether it’ll help us do more or just give us more to do.
Along the way, Martin offers us lots of practical tips on how to manage our digital lives a little better. Charging your phone outside the bedroom, no-tech Tuesdays, and a couple of prettier email labels might actually go a long way. And if you have too many notes in too many places, it’s time to get a Main List going.
If you want to know more about everything we talk about in this episode, here are a few links to get you started:

Laura Mae Martin’s website
Her book, Uptime: A Practical Guide to Personal Productivity and Wellbeing

The Google Workspace guide to productivity and wellbeing
The Verge’s favorite tools to stay organized
The best note-taking apps for collecting your thoughts and data
All I want is one productivity app that can handle everything

Image: Samar Haddad / The Verge

Laura Mae Martin is a big believer in the settings menu. As Google’s executive productivity advisor, Martin spends much of her time working with other Googlers on improving their productivity and communication systems — and one of the things she often recommends is taking a few minutes to poke through the options. “With your phone, with your email, your Slack, all these things, the features are there, but we don’t take the time to dive into them,” she says. She even thinks you should maybe have to look at settings before you can use the app. “Like, you can’t get into the app unless you spend 10 minutes figuring out what it can do.”

On this episode of The Vergecast, the first in our three-part miniseries about all things productivity and work, we talk to Martin about how she sees things changing. Four years after the pandemic forced us all to work from home, are we finally figuring out remote and hybrid work? Are managers realizing that butts-in-seats isn’t — and maybe was never — a good metric for productivity? And is the era of the hard-charging hustle bro finally giving way to a healthier, more holistic way of thinking about being productive? Martin sees all these things from so many perspectives and has lots of thoughts on everything from communication styles to energy flows.

We also talk about the rise in digital productivity tools like Notion and Slack and why email is still so important — and still so terrible. One of Martin’s jobs at Google is to consult with the teams building Workspace apps like Docs and Gmail, and she has lots of thoughts on how those products work and how they could be better. We also talk about whether AI stands to change the way we get things done and whether it’ll help us do more or just give us more to do.

Along the way, Martin offers us lots of practical tips on how to manage our digital lives a little better. Charging your phone outside the bedroom, no-tech Tuesdays, and a couple of prettier email labels might actually go a long way. And if you have too many notes in too many places, it’s time to get a Main List going.

If you want to know more about everything we talk about in this episode, here are a few links to get you started:

Laura Mae Martin’s website
Her book, Uptime: A Practical Guide to Personal Productivity and Wellbeing

The Google Workspace guide to productivity and wellbeing
The Verge’s favorite tools to stay organized
The best note-taking apps for collecting your thoughts and data
All I want is one productivity app that can handle everything

Read More 

The Venom F5 Revolution at Circuit of the Americas. | Image: Hennessey Special Vehicles

Hennessey Special Vehicles crashed its Venom F5 — a $3 million hypercar — while driving nearly 250mph on the Launch and Landing Facility (LLF) runway at Kennedy Space Center in July. Newly reported details show the cost of the crash, which happened while the company was testing out new components of the car.
The crash damaged the runway surface, according to crash-related documents acquired by ClickOrlando. The damage was apparently minimal, and repair, plus subsequent hazmat cleanup, cost $712.70, which was billed to Space Coast Testing, the company that manages runway rentals. Renting the LLF, which was once used as a landing strip for NASA’s Space Shuttle and serves aerospace purposes like delivering the United Launch Alliance’s rocket stages, can cost $2,200 for a four-hour stretch, ClickOrlando reported. It’s unclear if that’s the same rate Hennessey paid.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Hennessey Performance (@hennesseyperformance)

Hennessey was testing “a new experimental aerodynamic set up” when it “lost downforce on the runway causing the driver to lose control,” the founder John Hennessey posted on Hennessey’s Instagram account after the crash. The driver was unharmed, and the company said it’s investigating the cause. The testing was part of Hennessey’s run-up to an attempt to break 300mph in the car as it chases the record for fastest production car.
The documents that ClickOrlando reviewed were heavily redacted, so no pictures of the crash seem to be available. According to the outlet, this was done to protect Hennessey’s trade secrets.
The LLF is managed by Space Florida, the state’s aerospace economic development agency. According to the Space Florida website, other organizations that have used it include Amazon (for Project Kuiper), United Launch Alliance, and Lockheed Martin. But the LLF’s flat, 3-mile straightaway is also used by automotive companies, including Tesla and Volvo, for real-world performance and aerodynamics tests of their cars.
Alayna Curry, Space Florida’s public relations director, told ClickOrlando that such testing “is not new and has taken place for many years, dating back to the Space Shuttle era under NASA’s management,” and that Space Florida regularly rejects requests to rent the runway.

Hennessey sped up to over 271mph on the LLF while testing components on the Venom F5 in 2022. That’s a little faster than the 270mph its Venom GT managed on the strip in 2014. But the company has been trying to find the right straightaway to get the 1,817-horsepower Venom F5 up past the 300mph mark in a two-way run. (Bugatti’s Chiron did it in a one-way run in 2019, but Guinness World Records apparently requires a run in both directions to set the record.)
Other notable runs at the LLF include when the Bugatti Chiron made it to 261mph in 2018, the McLaren Speedtail hit 250mph in 2019, and a modified electric Corvette hit 211mph the same year.

The Venom F5 Revolution at Circuit of the Americas. | Image: Hennessey Special Vehicles

Hennessey Special Vehicles crashed its Venom F5 — a $3 million hypercar — while driving nearly 250mph on the Launch and Landing Facility (LLF) runway at Kennedy Space Center in July. Newly reported details show the cost of the crash, which happened while the company was testing out new components of the car.

The crash damaged the runway surface, according to crash-related documents acquired by ClickOrlando. The damage was apparently minimal, and repair, plus subsequent hazmat cleanup, cost $712.70, which was billed to Space Coast Testing, the company that manages runway rentals. Renting the LLF, which was once used as a landing strip for NASA’s Space Shuttle and serves aerospace purposes like delivering the United Launch Alliance’s rocket stages, can cost $2,200 for a four-hour stretch, ClickOrlando reported. It’s unclear if that’s the same rate Hennessey paid.

Hennessey was testing “a new experimental aerodynamic set up” when it “lost downforce on the runway causing the driver to lose control,” the founder John Hennessey posted on Hennessey’s Instagram account after the crash. The driver was unharmed, and the company said it’s investigating the cause. The testing was part of Hennessey’s run-up to an attempt to break 300mph in the car as it chases the record for fastest production car.

The documents that ClickOrlando reviewed were heavily redacted, so no pictures of the crash seem to be available. According to the outlet, this was done to protect Hennessey’s trade secrets.

The LLF is managed by Space Florida, the state’s aerospace economic development agency. According to the Space Florida website, other organizations that have used it include Amazon (for Project Kuiper), United Launch Alliance, and Lockheed Martin. But the LLF’s flat, 3-mile straightaway is also used by automotive companies, including Tesla and Volvo, for real-world performance and aerodynamics tests of their cars.

Alayna Curry, Space Florida’s public relations director, told ClickOrlando that such testing “is not new and has taken place for many years, dating back to the Space Shuttle era under NASA’s management,” and that Space Florida regularly rejects requests to rent the runway.

Hennessey sped up to over 271mph on the LLF while testing components on the Venom F5 in 2022. That’s a little faster than the 270mph its Venom GT managed on the strip in 2014. But the company has been trying to find the right straightaway to get the 1,817-horsepower Venom F5 up past the 300mph mark in a two-way run. (Bugatti’s Chiron did it in a one-way run in 2019, but Guinness World Records apparently requires a run in both directions to set the record.)

Other notable runs at the LLF include when the Bugatti Chiron made it to 261mph in 2018, the McLaren Speedtail hit 250mph in 2019, and a modified electric Corvette hit 211mph the same year.

Read More 

Image: David Pierce / The Verge

Hi, friends! Welcome to Installer No. 48, your guide to the best and Verge-iest stuff in the world. (If you’re new here, welcome, get ready for a lot of books this week, and also you can read all the old editions at the Installer homepage.)
I’m back after a couple of weeks off — thanks to everyone who wished me a good vacation and sent over book recommendations! I wound up reading Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore, She Rides Shotgun, and The Wager and highly recommend all three. Mostly, I spent two weeks chasing a toddler around various restaurants and playgrounds, and it was a good time, but I am oh so very glad to be back hanging with all of you. And it turns out I missed a lot of good stuff!
This week, I’ve been reading about Worldcoin and Conan O’Brien, watching Bad Monkey and rewatching The Night Manager, tweaking my recipe for a maple syrup Old Fashioned, listening to 99 Percent Invisible’s excellent series on The Power Broker, rebooting all my fantasy football leagues, and trying my damndest to switch from Spotify to YouTube Music.
I also have for you a new way to take smartphone photos, a new-ish HBO smash, a new podcast app, a clever use of AI for your notes, and much more. Let’s get into it.
(As always, the best part of Installer is your ideas and tips. What are you into right now? What should everyone else be reading / watching / playing / buying / 3D printing? Tell me everything: installer@theverge.com. And if you know someone else who might enjoy Installer, tell them to subscribe here.)

The Drop

Halide’s Process Zero. Halide was already one of the best camera apps for iPhone and iPad, but this feature — which strips out all the processing your phone does and gives you as raw an image as possible — is just so much fun to play with. Give it a whirl this weekend. (A lot of you also sent this in — thanks to everyone who did!)

The Google Pixel 9 Pro Fold. The name is bad. The phone looks awesome. Google seems to have gotten the foldable phone design pretty right this time, and using Gemini side by side with an app is actually a great case for a larger screen. There are lots of new Pixel devices this week, but I’m most excited about the Fold.

Gemini Live. Big week for chatty voice assistants! OpenAI rolled out Advanced Voice Mode for ChatGPT, which is both cool and creepy. And Google showed off Gemini Live, which, well, same. I’m curious to see if either of these can go from nifty novelty to actually useful feature.

Alien: Romulus. I honestly don’t care if this movie’s any good. (And the reviews so far are… pretty mixed.) I’m thrilled to have a reason to get back into the Alien universe, and you better believe I’ll be seeing this in the biggest, loudest theater I can find.

“First Look Inside Blue Origin’s New Glenn Factory w/ Jeff Bezos!” I’m embarrassed to say I hadn’t watched any Everyday Astronaut videos before this one crossed my recommendations. I learned a ton from this long, deep, truly wild factory tour. Insta-subscribe.

Meta Quest HDMI Link. If we’ve learned anything from the Vision Pro this year, it’s that VR headsets are just really, really big televisions. Meta’s new app means you can plug almost anything in and use your headset as the big screen it’s meant to be.

Unread for Mac. This one’s like two weeks old, but I was on vacation, so I just saw it: my favorite RSS reader for iOS is now on the Mac, and it’s great. Fast, simple, nice to look at, works with everything, instantly part of my day-to-day workflow.

Industry season 3. It took a while for this HBO show to get its flowers, but it totally deserves the belated love. It has some of the same chaotic energy as Succession, lots of the money and bad behavior, and plenty of good-looking people doing hateable stuff. Takes a couple of episodes to really get going, but it’s great once it does.

Neuecast. I actually like the new Overcast design, but evidently, not everyone’s a fan. And if, for whatever reason, you’re looking for a new podcast app, this is a gorgeous, simple one that’s remarkably full-featured for being so new. I’ve been testing it for months, and it’s been good basically the whole time.

Screen share
Earlier this summer, I mentioned how much I‘d been enjoying the Niagara Launcher, a minimalist Android launcher that reinvents your homescreen into something much more manageable and straightforward. And I heard from so many of you that you like it, too!
I also happened to run into Peter Huber, the creator and developer behind Niagara, only a few days later. I figured it had to be fate, so I asked Peter to share his homescreen with us, figuring we might get a Niagara pro tip or two.
Here’s Peter’s homescreen, plus some info on the apps he uses and why:

The phone(s): Pixel 8 and Galaxy Z Fold 3. Since we need several phones to check if Niagara Launcher works properly on the vast Android landscape, I have the luxury of being able to use two phones. The Pixel is my daily driver, and I use my Fold 3 with its wide screen to relax and wind down in the evenings.
The wallpaper: The first one is based on a photograph from Annie Spratt, and the second is a blurred version of a wallpaper I did while tinkering with the fantastic 3D modeling software Blender. You can find the wallpapers in Niagara Launcher or on my Google Drive.
The launcher: I was tempted to post an iPhone setup here to see the reaction, but I’m using and testing Niagara Launcher. I prefer a simple setup, and everything you see — the icon packs, weather, calendar, and media widgets — comes with Niagara Launcher. The only exception is the Caprasimo font on the Fold. I tried a few extravagant fonts for upcoming homescreen setup presets. I noticed the star above the alphabet is too thin with this font, so I’ve kept it as a reminder to address this issue, and now the font has grown on me.
The apps: Gmail, Todoist, Telegram, WhatsApp, Slack, Firefox, YouTube, Harmonic.

Todoist: Almost every thought I want to write down lands here first. It’s fast, feels native, and syncs seamlessly with Google Calendar. The developers have put a lot of thought and care into it.

Telegram, WhatsApp, Slack — if you message me on any of these, expect to encounter a fair share of “Hide the Pain Harold” stickers or reactions.

Firefox: In the morning and on breaks, I use it to check the news on The Verge and Reddit, but I want to reduce my Reddit use. Lately, I often browse ArtStation or Stash before going to sleep; looking at beautiful art has some soothing character.

Harmonic is a wonderful Hacker News client.
While not an app, DebugAction is my handy developer shortcut for Niagara Launcher that lets me perform actions to fine-tune a feature, like refreshing all app icons when designing a new icon pack.

I also asked Peter to share a few things he’s into right now. Here’s what he sent back:

YouTube videos I recommend watching: a video about phantom islands by Map Men, a British duo teaching geography in the funniest way possible; a discussion from a fitness forum turned into an Ace Attorney case (warning: profane language); and Captain Disillusion’s latest debunk video, packed with his usual meticulous details and humor — highly recommended if you want to learn more about special effects.
While I’m not exactly “into”: writing a Master’s thesis. It’s the thing I have invested a lot of time into recently (or at least I should — maybe promising to work on it more here will motivate me). However, I have no right to complain because I was allowed to choose the topic I’m passionate about. My goal is to investigate reducing unwanted phone use like procrastination on YouTube, instead of, let’s say, writing a Master’s thesis. Unfortunately, there is no scientific consensus on how to assess unwanted phone use (heck, it’s even debatable if smartphones can be addictive, at least in the pathological sense). The common advice is to get extra hardware like a second phone or a dumb phone, which can help but is expensive and often inconvenient if you need your phone to be smart. I want to figure out a solution that is accessible to more people.
I’m playing Wario Land 4, a short and quirky Game Boy Advance platformer with so much character! Another short game I want to play again after beating Wario Land is the rooftop runner game Mirror’s Edge. The first time I missed a jump and fell, it gave me goosebumps. Also, how could an almost 16-year-old game achieve such great lighting? Its stylized city looks even better than its successor’s! I also had a few good Super Smash Bros. Ultimate rounds with my team after the last sprint meeting. We have the unhealthy tradition that the last match has to end with a special attack called a “spike.” Otherwise, it’s not the last match.

Crowdsourced
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 or message me on Signal — @davidpierce.11 — with your recommendations for anything and everything, and we’ll feature some of our favorites here every week. And for even more recommendations than I could fit here, check out the replies to this post on Threads.
“I followed Jeff Cable’s photography blog during the Olympics. There are technical, logistical, and emotional articles. Working in post-production, I wondered how many cameras were being used during the Olympics. Found this blog post about Olympic Broadcasting Services.” — Sinan
“Denim has been my favorite utility to create great-looking custom covers for playlists on Apple Music.” — Krishna
“A Psalm for the Wild-Built. It’s set in a future where humans and robots have gone their separate ways and really paints a portrait of a world where I think many of us would like to live. Becky Chambers’ work has been called ‘comfort sci-fi,’ and honestly, I can’t think of anything more perfect for a reprieve. Reading this is like drinking a warm cup of tea. You’ll love it.” — Nolan
“Really into this black and white E Ink smartphone I was crazy enough to preorder from China. Think ‘slightly less expensive Boox Palma,’ and also, you could put a SIM card in it if you really wanted, but the bands it supports really limit what carrier you could use and what kind of speeds you’ll get in the US” — Christopher
“I’m enjoying Quick Journal, a simple text-only journaling app for iOS.” — Joe
“I relistened to ‘The Case of the Missing Hit’ from Reply All and forgot how much I loved it. It got me thinking of podcasts I’ve listened to that had me on the edge of my seat, and I remembered Dr. Death. It has multiple seasons now, but the first one is on Christopher Duntsch, a spinal surgeon gone wrong and how the laws of malpractice and hospital fire and hire practices will fill you with rage!” — David
“GuestCast. I’ve been using this site to follow my tech reporters and politicians when they go on random podcasts.” — Ben
“Match Land. It hasn’t been updated in a super long time but still works. I have yet to find a match RPG game that can replace it. For me, it has the perfect game physics as far as speed and moving tiles, and nothing else I’ve tried is as satisfying.” — Justin
“Based on your clear interest in note-taking apps, I assume you’ve already read How to Take Smart Notes by Sönke Ahrens. If you haven’t, check it out — you might like it. It’s short, to the point, and interesting for people who take a lot of notes for future articles / books / papers.” — Robert
“The new day calendar view in Todoist is absolutely amazing and makes it super simple to plan tasks around meetings.“ — Glenn

Signing off
I don’t remember how I discovered The Lonely Island and Seth Meyers Podcast, but I’m really glad I did. Every episode is a dissection of one of the Lonely Island’s SNL digital shorts, a shocking number of which ended up being kind of culturally iconic. I wouldn’t binge the show since a few of the episodes are a little same-y – “we made it last minute, it was huge, wasn’t that neat!” — but there’s a lot of interesting behind-the-scenes stuff throughout. And I will never tire of the fact that “Lazy Sunday” is both an all-time great SNL sketch and a sneakily crucial part of internet history. (And not just because there’s a MapQuest shoutout!) That episode was particularly great, but I’ve really enjoyed the whole show so far.
See you next week!

Image: David Pierce / The Verge

Hi, friends! Welcome to Installer No. 48, your guide to the best and Verge-iest stuff in the world. (If you’re new here, welcome, get ready for a lot of books this week, and also you can read all the old editions at the Installer homepage.)

I’m back after a couple of weeks off — thanks to everyone who wished me a good vacation and sent over book recommendations! I wound up reading Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore, She Rides Shotgun, and The Wager and highly recommend all three. Mostly, I spent two weeks chasing a toddler around various restaurants and playgrounds, and it was a good time, but I am oh so very glad to be back hanging with all of you. And it turns out I missed a lot of good stuff!

This week, I’ve been reading about Worldcoin and Conan O’Brien, watching Bad Monkey and rewatching The Night Manager, tweaking my recipe for a maple syrup Old Fashioned, listening to 99 Percent Invisible’s excellent series on The Power Broker, rebooting all my fantasy football leagues, and trying my damndest to switch from Spotify to YouTube Music.

I also have for you a new way to take smartphone photos, a new-ish HBO smash, a new podcast app, a clever use of AI for your notes, and much more. Let’s get into it.

(As always, the best part of Installer is your ideas and tips. What are you into right now? What should everyone else be reading / watching / playing / buying / 3D printing? Tell me everything: installer@theverge.com. And if you know someone else who might enjoy Installer, tell them to subscribe here.)

The Drop

Halide’s Process Zero. Halide was already one of the best camera apps for iPhone and iPad, but this feature — which strips out all the processing your phone does and gives you as raw an image as possible — is just so much fun to play with. Give it a whirl this weekend. (A lot of you also sent this in — thanks to everyone who did!)

The Google Pixel 9 Pro Fold. The name is bad. The phone looks awesome. Google seems to have gotten the foldable phone design pretty right this time, and using Gemini side by side with an app is actually a great case for a larger screen. There are lots of new Pixel devices this week, but I’m most excited about the Fold.

Gemini Live. Big week for chatty voice assistants! OpenAI rolled out Advanced Voice Mode for ChatGPT, which is both cool and creepy. And Google showed off Gemini Live, which, well, same. I’m curious to see if either of these can go from nifty novelty to actually useful feature.

Alien: Romulus. I honestly don’t care if this movie’s any good. (And the reviews so far are… pretty mixed.) I’m thrilled to have a reason to get back into the Alien universe, and you better believe I’ll be seeing this in the biggest, loudest theater I can find.

“First Look Inside Blue Origin’s New Glenn Factory w/ Jeff Bezos!” I’m embarrassed to say I hadn’t watched any Everyday Astronaut videos before this one crossed my recommendations. I learned a ton from this long, deep, truly wild factory tour. Insta-subscribe.

Meta Quest HDMI Link. If we’ve learned anything from the Vision Pro this year, it’s that VR headsets are just really, really big televisions. Meta’s new app means you can plug almost anything in and use your headset as the big screen it’s meant to be.

Unread for Mac. This one’s like two weeks old, but I was on vacation, so I just saw it: my favorite RSS reader for iOS is now on the Mac, and it’s great. Fast, simple, nice to look at, works with everything, instantly part of my day-to-day workflow.

Industry season 3. It took a while for this HBO show to get its flowers, but it totally deserves the belated love. It has some of the same chaotic energy as Succession, lots of the money and bad behavior, and plenty of good-looking people doing hateable stuff. Takes a couple of episodes to really get going, but it’s great once it does.

Neuecast. I actually like the new Overcast design, but evidently, not everyone’s a fan. And if, for whatever reason, you’re looking for a new podcast app, this is a gorgeous, simple one that’s remarkably full-featured for being so new. I’ve been testing it for months, and it’s been good basically the whole time.

Screen share

Earlier this summer, I mentioned how much I‘d been enjoying the Niagara Launcher, a minimalist Android launcher that reinvents your homescreen into something much more manageable and straightforward. And I heard from so many of you that you like it, too!

I also happened to run into Peter Huber, the creator and developer behind Niagara, only a few days later. I figured it had to be fate, so I asked Peter to share his homescreen with us, figuring we might get a Niagara pro tip or two.

Here’s Peter’s homescreen, plus some info on the apps he uses and why:

The phone(s): Pixel 8 and Galaxy Z Fold 3. Since we need several phones to check if Niagara Launcher works properly on the vast Android landscape, I have the luxury of being able to use two phones. The Pixel is my daily driver, and I use my Fold 3 with its wide screen to relax and wind down in the evenings.

The wallpaper: The first one is based on a photograph from Annie Spratt, and the second is a blurred version of a wallpaper I did while tinkering with the fantastic 3D modeling software Blender. You can find the wallpapers in Niagara Launcher or on my Google Drive.

The launcher: I was tempted to post an iPhone setup here to see the reaction, but I’m using and testing Niagara Launcher. I prefer a simple setup, and everything you see — the icon packs, weather, calendar, and media widgets — comes with Niagara Launcher. The only exception is the Caprasimo font on the Fold. I tried a few extravagant fonts for upcoming homescreen setup presets. I noticed the star above the alphabet is too thin with this font, so I’ve kept it as a reminder to address this issue, and now the font has grown on me.

The apps: Gmail, Todoist, Telegram, WhatsApp, Slack, Firefox, YouTube, Harmonic.

Todoist: Almost every thought I want to write down lands here first. It’s fast, feels native, and syncs seamlessly with Google Calendar. The developers have put a lot of thought and care into it.

Telegram, WhatsApp, Slack — if you message me on any of these, expect to encounter a fair share of “Hide the Pain Harold” stickers or reactions.

Firefox: In the morning and on breaks, I use it to check the news on The Verge and Reddit, but I want to reduce my Reddit use. Lately, I often browse ArtStation or Stash before going to sleep; looking at beautiful art has some soothing character.

Harmonic is a wonderful Hacker News client.
While not an app, DebugAction is my handy developer shortcut for Niagara Launcher that lets me perform actions to fine-tune a feature, like refreshing all app icons when designing a new icon pack.

I also asked Peter to share a few things he’s into right now. Here’s what he sent back:

YouTube videos I recommend watching: a video about phantom islands by Map Men, a British duo teaching geography in the funniest way possible; a discussion from a fitness forum turned into an Ace Attorney case (warning: profane language); and Captain Disillusion’s latest debunk video, packed with his usual meticulous details and humor — highly recommended if you want to learn more about special effects.
While I’m not exactly “into”: writing a Master’s thesis. It’s the thing I have invested a lot of time into recently (or at least I should — maybe promising to work on it more here will motivate me). However, I have no right to complain because I was allowed to choose the topic I’m passionate about. My goal is to investigate reducing unwanted phone use like procrastination on YouTube, instead of, let’s say, writing a Master’s thesis. Unfortunately, there is no scientific consensus on how to assess unwanted phone use (heck, it’s even debatable if smartphones can be addictive, at least in the pathological sense). The common advice is to get extra hardware like a second phone or a dumb phone, which can help but is expensive and often inconvenient if you need your phone to be smart. I want to figure out a solution that is accessible to more people.
I’m playing Wario Land 4, a short and quirky Game Boy Advance platformer with so much character! Another short game I want to play again after beating Wario Land is the rooftop runner game Mirror’s Edge. The first time I missed a jump and fell, it gave me goosebumps. Also, how could an almost 16-year-old game achieve such great lighting? Its stylized city looks even better than its successor’s! I also had a few good Super Smash Bros. Ultimate rounds with my team after the last sprint meeting. We have the unhealthy tradition that the last match has to end with a special attack called a “spike.” Otherwise, it’s not the last match.

Crowdsourced

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 or message me on Signal — @davidpierce.11 — with your recommendations for anything and everything, and we’ll feature some of our favorites here every week. And for even more recommendations than I could fit here, check out the replies to this post on Threads.

“I followed Jeff Cable’s photography blog during the Olympics. There are technical, logistical, and emotional articles. Working in post-production, I wondered how many cameras were being used during the Olympics. Found this blog post about Olympic Broadcasting Services.” — Sinan

“Denim has been my favorite utility to create great-looking custom covers for playlists on Apple Music.” — Krishna

“A Psalm for the Wild-Built. It’s set in a future where humans and robots have gone their separate ways and really paints a portrait of a world where I think many of us would like to live. Becky Chambers’ work has been called ‘comfort sci-fi,’ and honestly, I can’t think of anything more perfect for a reprieve. Reading this is like drinking a warm cup of tea. You’ll love it.” — Nolan

“Really into this black and white E Ink smartphone I was crazy enough to preorder from China. Think ‘slightly less expensive Boox Palma,’ and also, you could put a SIM card in it if you really wanted, but the bands it supports really limit what carrier you could use and what kind of speeds you’ll get in the US” — Christopher

“I’m enjoying Quick Journal, a simple text-only journaling app for iOS.” — Joe

“I relistened to ‘The Case of the Missing Hit’ from Reply All and forgot how much I loved it. It got me thinking of podcasts I’ve listened to that had me on the edge of my seat, and I remembered Dr. Death. It has multiple seasons now, but the first one is on Christopher Duntsch, a spinal surgeon gone wrong and how the laws of malpractice and hospital fire and hire practices will fill you with rage!” — David

“GuestCast. I’ve been using this site to follow my tech reporters and politicians when they go on random podcasts.” — Ben

“Match Land. It hasn’t been updated in a super long time but still works. I have yet to find a match RPG game that can replace it. For me, it has the perfect game physics as far as speed and moving tiles, and nothing else I’ve tried is as satisfying.” — Justin

“Based on your clear interest in note-taking apps, I assume you’ve already read How to Take Smart Notes by Sönke Ahrens. If you haven’t, check it out — you might like it. It’s short, to the point, and interesting for people who take a lot of notes for future articles / books / papers.” — Robert

“The new day calendar view in Todoist is absolutely amazing and makes it super simple to plan tasks around meetings.“ — Glenn

Signing off

I don’t remember how I discovered The Lonely Island and Seth Meyers Podcast, but I’m really glad I did. Every episode is a dissection of one of the Lonely Island’s SNL digital shorts, a shocking number of which ended up being kind of culturally iconic. I wouldn’t binge the show since a few of the episodes are a little same-y – “we made it last minute, it was huge, wasn’t that neat!” — but there’s a lot of interesting behind-the-scenes stuff throughout. And I will never tire of the fact that “Lazy Sunday” is both an all-time great SNL sketch and a sneakily crucial part of internet history. (And not just because there’s a MapQuest shoutout!) That episode was particularly great, but I’ve really enjoyed the whole show so far.

See you next week!

Read More 

Rimac, the company behind the absurdly quick Nevera EV, says it’s now made it even faster with the Nevera R. This new version of Rimac’s new electric supercar can apparently hit 60mph from a stop in just 1.74 seconds, or about a tenth of a second faster than the original.
The EV apparently generates 2,107 horsepower, or about 200 more than its predecessor. On top of that, Rimac says the Nevera R has better aerodynamics, more downforce, and improved grip, and that it managed to knock 3.8 seconds off the Nevera’s lap time on the Nardo Ring, a high-speed Italian track owned by Porsche.

Like the regular Nevera, the new EV supercar requires “manufacturer oversight” to unlock its top speed of 256mph. Without that, the car is limited to 217mph, reports MotorTrend. The outlet says that Rimac expects that the car’s 108kWh battery will be good for about 250 miles of range under the European WLTP cycle, though it hasn’t been certified yet.

You’ll probably have better luck getting yourself into one of the company’s forthcoming Croatian robotaxis than a Nevera R. Rimac, which owns a majority stake in Bugatti, will only make 40 of them and, as MotorTrend writes, they’ll cost $2.5 million.

Rimac, the company behind the absurdly quick Nevera EV, says it’s now made it even faster with the Nevera R. This new version of Rimac’s new electric supercar can apparently hit 60mph from a stop in just 1.74 seconds, or about a tenth of a second faster than the original.

The EV apparently generates 2,107 horsepower, or about 200 more than its predecessor. On top of that, Rimac says the Nevera R has better aerodynamics, more downforce, and improved grip, and that it managed to knock 3.8 seconds off the Nevera’s lap time on the Nardo Ring, a high-speed Italian track owned by Porsche.

Like the regular Nevera, the new EV supercar requires “manufacturer oversight” to unlock its top speed of 256mph. Without that, the car is limited to 217mph, reports MotorTrend. The outlet says that Rimac expects that the car’s 108kWh battery will be good for about 250 miles of range under the European WLTP cycle, though it hasn’t been certified yet.

You’ll probably have better luck getting yourself into one of the company’s forthcoming Croatian robotaxis than a Nevera R. Rimac, which owns a majority stake in Bugatti, will only make 40 of them and, as MotorTrend writes, they’ll cost $2.5 million.

Read More 

The iPhone 15 Pro. | Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge

What the rumor mill says about the first new iPhones in the era of Apple Intelligence. Apple should be spinning up the iPhone 16 line soon, and while rumors about its phones don’t tend to leak like certain other phones I know, some details have trickled out of the halls of Cupertino and its supply chain. Physically, we mostly expect them to look, well, like iPhones, but as the first new Apple smartphones after the WWDC debut of Apple Intelligence, the changes could be more than meets the eye.
On the outside, rumors suggest Apple has redesigned the camera bump on the vanilla iPhone and that it’s adding a new DSLR-like, pressure-sensitive camera button to at least the iPhone 16 Pro. It’s also expected that the 16 Pro models will get slightly larger screens than their counterparts in the iPhone 15 lineup.
All iPhone 16s are expected to support the on-device AI features of Apple Intelligence. That means they’ll need some boosted specs to enable things like local AI summaries and writing tools, as well as likely more demanding capabilities like those offered by Apple’s Image Playground.

The iPhone 15 Pro. | Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge

What the rumor mill says about the first new iPhones in the era of Apple Intelligence.

Apple should be spinning up the iPhone 16 line soon, and while rumors about its phones don’t tend to leak like certain other phones I know, some details have trickled out of the halls of Cupertino and its supply chain. Physically, we mostly expect them to look, well, like iPhones, but as the first new Apple smartphones after the WWDC debut of Apple Intelligence, the changes could be more than meets the eye.

On the outside, rumors suggest Apple has redesigned the camera bump on the vanilla iPhone and that it’s adding a new DSLR-like, pressure-sensitive camera button to at least the iPhone 16 Pro. It’s also expected that the 16 Pro models will get slightly larger screens than their counterparts in the iPhone 15 lineup.

All iPhone 16s are expected to support the on-device AI features of Apple Intelligence. That means they’ll need some boosted specs to enable things like local AI summaries and writing tools, as well as likely more demanding capabilities like those offered by Apple’s Image Playground.

Read More 

It’s no ROG Ally X, but Asus’ last-gen handheld is still a powerful gaming machine. | Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge

Now that the new and improved Asus ROG Ally X has arrived, we’re starting to see some solid deals on its predecessor, the Asus ROG Ally. Now until August 19th, for instance, the Windows-based gaming handheld is available at Best Buy with a Z1 Extreme chip for an all-time low of $499.99 ($150 off). That’s almost half the price of its successor, which costs $799.99, rendering it a good alternative if you’re on a tighter budget. The lower-end model with the Z1 chip is also on sale for $379.99 ($120), though, given the performance downgrades, we’d recommend sticking with the Extreme configuration.

At this price, the standard Asus ROG Ally offers good value, even if it didn’t impress us as much as ROG Ally X when it comes to comfort, performance, or battery life. It’s still more powerful than Valve’s Steam Deck, though, thanks to its Z1 Extreme chip and enhanced performance when the handheld is plugged in and engaged in “Turbo” mode. It also features a quieter fan and a larger 1080p display with a 120Hz variable refresh rate, the latter of which is surprisingly smooth for its size.
Unfortunately, its battery only lasts a mediocre four hours at best, which is disappointing given it’s designed to be a portable gaming PC. It’s also held back the Windows 11, which isn’t well-designed for small, handheld-like devices. That said, Valve is working on adding support for SteamOS on rival handhelds like Asus’ ROG Ally, so perhaps we could see it running an alternative operating system down the line.

Read our Asus ROG Alley review.

A few more weekend discounts

If you’d like to dive even deeper into the Alien universe after watching Alien: Romulus this weekend, a few retailers are currently discounting Alien: Isolation, a video game that takes place 15 years after the original Alien film. The base game is on sale for $8.99 ($21 off) at the PlayStation Store, while Alien: Isolation Collection — which comes with all seven DLCs — is available for PC starting at $8.99 ($41 off) from Fanatical and Steam. Admittedly, the first-person survival game is getting pretty old, but let’s not forget it once terrified our own Andrew Webster into forgetting to breathe.
Now until September 1st, Woot is selling Sennheiser’s Momentum True Wireless 3 in select colors for $99.99 ($180 off), which is their best price to date. Before the Momentum True Wireless 4 took their place, the third-gen earbuds were some of the best you could buy, offering top-notch sound quality, solid active noise cancellation, and wireless charging. The newer earbuds offer better sound and improved day-to-day reliability, but at this price, the last-gen pair remain a great value (especially now that they offer multipoint).
You can buy a refurbished Roborock Q Revo — one of our favorite robot vacuums — from Roborock’s eBay storefront for $447.99 with offer code HOTSEASON20. That’s about half the price the Robovac typically sells for in new condition. The Q Revo is a highly capable cleaning machine, one that features a pair of oscillating mops that scrub floors remarkably well. It can also fill its own reservoir, clean and dry up its own mopping pads, and even self-empty. It lets you set virtual keep-out zones, too, which almost makes up for the fact it lacks AI obstacle avoidance.

It’s no ROG Ally X, but Asus’ last-gen handheld is still a powerful gaming machine. | Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge

Now that the new and improved Asus ROG Ally X has arrived, we’re starting to see some solid deals on its predecessor, the Asus ROG Ally. Now until August 19th, for instance, the Windows-based gaming handheld is available at Best Buy with a Z1 Extreme chip for an all-time low of $499.99 ($150 off). That’s almost half the price of its successor, which costs $799.99, rendering it a good alternative if you’re on a tighter budget. The lower-end model with the Z1 chip is also on sale for $379.99 ($120), though, given the performance downgrades, we’d recommend sticking with the Extreme configuration.

At this price, the standard Asus ROG Ally offers good value, even if it didn’t impress us as much as ROG Ally X when it comes to comfort, performance, or battery life. It’s still more powerful than Valve’s Steam Deck, though, thanks to its Z1 Extreme chip and enhanced performance when the handheld is plugged in and engaged in “Turbo” mode. It also features a quieter fan and a larger 1080p display with a 120Hz variable refresh rate, the latter of which is surprisingly smooth for its size.

Unfortunately, its battery only lasts a mediocre four hours at best, which is disappointing given it’s designed to be a portable gaming PC. It’s also held back the Windows 11, which isn’t well-designed for small, handheld-like devices. That said, Valve is working on adding support for SteamOS on rival handhelds like Asus’ ROG Ally, so perhaps we could see it running an alternative operating system down the line.

Read our Asus ROG Alley review.

A few more weekend discounts

If you’d like to dive even deeper into the Alien universe after watching Alien: Romulus this weekend, a few retailers are currently discounting Alien: Isolation, a video game that takes place 15 years after the original Alien film. The base game is on sale for $8.99 ($21 off) at the PlayStation Store, while Alien: Isolation Collection — which comes with all seven DLCs — is available for PC starting at $8.99 ($41 off) from Fanatical and Steam. Admittedly, the first-person survival game is getting pretty old, but let’s not forget it once terrified our own Andrew Webster into forgetting to breathe.
Now until September 1st, Woot is selling Sennheiser’s Momentum True Wireless 3 in select colors for $99.99 ($180 off), which is their best price to date. Before the Momentum True Wireless 4 took their place, the third-gen earbuds were some of the best you could buy, offering top-notch sound quality, solid active noise cancellation, and wireless charging. The newer earbuds offer better sound and improved day-to-day reliability, but at this price, the last-gen pair remain a great value (especially now that they offer multipoint).
You can buy a refurbished Roborock Q Revo — one of our favorite robot vacuums — from Roborock’s eBay storefront for $447.99 with offer code HOTSEASON20. That’s about half the price the Robovac typically sells for in new condition. The Q Revo is a highly capable cleaning machine, one that features a pair of oscillating mops that scrub floors remarkably well. It can also fill its own reservoir, clean and dry up its own mopping pads, and even self-empty. It lets you set virtual keep-out zones, too, which almost makes up for the fact it lacks AI obstacle avoidance.

Read More 

Image: Becca Farsace / The Verge

Instagram is a popular place to show off your latest photos, but if you’re a real photography enthusiast, it may not be enough. You may want a better-looking portfolio — not to mention feedback and suggestions from other photographers. One way to get that is to exhibit your work on a site specifically geared toward the visual arts.

What follows are sites that offer amateur and / or professional photographers a space to showcase their images, solicit comments, have discussions, and possibly even sell some work. In other words, a community — one that offers critiques, support, and good conversation.
Instagram

Screenshot: Meta
This may not be a typical Instagram feed, but it shows that you can search for and find some great photography.

Instagram is included here because how could it not be? The well-known social network concentrates on visuals, both still and video, from the accounts that you follow. Its focus is more on social networking than photography, but you can search for photos and videos that you’d like to see, and each includes info from the photographer and comments from their followers. If you take the time for that search, you can find some gems.
Instagram is free.
Pixelfed

Screenshot: Pixelfed
Pixelfed is a part of the same fediverse as Mastodon.

Pixelfed is, as the name might indicate, part of the fediverse made known over the past few years by social networks such as Mastodon. The open-source tool advertises itself as an ad-free “fresh take on photo sharing,” with chronological feeds and a privacy-friendly outlook. And like Mastodon, if you aren’t familiar with its format or that of similar apps, it may take a bit of education to get going. To start, you select one of a variety of Pixelfed servers; if you’re already a Mastodon member, you can sign in via your existing server.
Once you’ve overcome the server issue, though, Pixelfed offers a very straightforward interface with some lively conversation. Especially if you’re already a part of the fediverse, this could be an interesting Instagram alternative.
Flickr

Screenshot: Flickr
Flickr offers a wide range of photos and photographers, along with comments from their followers.

Flickr has been around for a long time and features a range of members — from home photographers to pros — and a variety of features, including a comments section and metadata about the photo and camera. If the owner of the photo allows downloading, you can choose from a number of different sizes and dimensions.
Free accounts can only upload up to 1,000 items and can’t post what Flickr calls “moderate and restricted content.” (In other words, partial and full nudity along with other sexual no-nos). In addition, free accounts are not allowed more than 50 nonpublic photos, and there are ads.
If you want no ads, unlimited uploads, unlimited nonpublic photos, and fewer restrictions on what you upload, it will cost $9.49 a month, $72.99 for one year, or $132.99 for two years, plus tax.
500px

Screenshot: Degoo
500px lets you follow your favorite photographers, see info about each photo, and comment on their work.

If you’re looking for a place to show off your cat photos, this isn’t it — unless they’re really good cat photos. 500px offers photographers a place to store, exhibit, and license their work and get some helpful comments from fans and knowledgeable pros.
The free ad-supported plan affords you 21 uploads a week. Otherwise, you can try the Awesome plan, which offers unlimited uploads, priority support, no ads, a history of “liked” photos, gallery slideshows, and a profile badge for $59.88 a year or $6.49 a month. The Pro plan adds a way to create a customizable portfolio for $119.88 a year or $12.99 monthly. (You get a discount on your first year: Awesome costs $47.90 for the year, while Pro goes for $95.90.) There is a 30-day free trial, too.
DeviantArt

Screenshot: DeviantArt
Photographers on DeviantArt can create galleries for public viewing.

Like 500px, DeviantArt is more for professional photographers than casual picture takers, although anyone can join for free. It offers visitors a wide range of galleries to view, each divided into categories, such as traditional, animation, and illustrations. The emphasis here is on creating a community of artists, so there aren’t only comments but also chat features. There is also an AI app called DreamUp to help you create new art; a free membership gets you four prompts per month.
The free membership also has no restrictions on how many public photos you can upload. If you want to sell your photography, you can do so, but only for up to $100. If you want to charge more, a Core Plus membership for $6.67 a month lets you sell your art for a 12 to 15 percent fee on sales with a $1,000 maximum price per digital item. You also get 50GB of private storage space, 200 AI prompts per month, and other features. If you need more space or higher sale prices, other levels are available.
VSCO

Screenshot: VSCO
VSCO is an online space for photographers to store, edit, share, and sell their work.

VSCO is an online space for professional photographers to store, edit, share, and sell their work; a feature called VSCO Spaces allows members to create shared galleries “around a particular theme, photography style, event, or location.” Using the free version, you can use a limited number of editing tools, create a public space to show off your photos, and browse community discussions. A Plus-level member can access more robust features such as video editing and the ability to take part in discussions for $7.99 a month or $29.99 annually, while a Pro-level membership gets you the ability to create galleries of your work along with a full suite of editing tools for $12.99 a month or $59.99 annually.
Glass

Screenshot: Glass
You can search through Glass photos according to a variety of categories.

Glass offers its own community for photographers — a place to create and share portfolios and give and receive comments. There is essentially no free version; if you want to look around, you can create a profile and follow up to three members, but you can’t upload your own photos or comment on others. Photography buffs can search through member photos using categories (which you can drill down to encompass something as specific as “silent protests” or “flight over water”). You can also see the work of specific members, curated highlights, and even photos taken using specific cameras or lenses.
Glass costs $6.99 a month or $39.99 a year for full access to its features; you can also become a “Patron” for $129.99 a year. There is a 14-day free trial.
Vero

Screenshot: Vero
Vero offers photographers a place to exhibit their work and talk with their fans.

Vero wants to make itself a place for a variety of creators, including photographers. The emphasis here is on social networking rather than just posting photos. You can create a post using a photo, a link to a site, or an audio file. You can search for and follow featured users or try the Discovery section to find an artist you like.
Vero is currently ad-free and, it says, algorithm-free; an FAQ page explains exactly what data it collects and when. The app is currently free for “Founding Members” but may institute an annual fee for new members in the future. The site’s first page announces it’s looking for “co-owners,” which may not bode well for its continued existence. Still, it looks like a friendly place to show your stuff.

Image: Becca Farsace / The Verge

Instagram is a popular place to show off your latest photos, but if you’re a real photography enthusiast, it may not be enough. You may want a better-looking portfolio — not to mention feedback and suggestions from other photographers. One way to get that is to exhibit your work on a site specifically geared toward the visual arts.

What follows are sites that offer amateur and / or professional photographers a space to showcase their images, solicit comments, have discussions, and possibly even sell some work. In other words, a community — one that offers critiques, support, and good conversation.

Instagram

Screenshot: Meta
This may not be a typical Instagram feed, but it shows that you can search for and find some great photography.

Instagram is included here because how could it not be? The well-known social network concentrates on visuals, both still and video, from the accounts that you follow. Its focus is more on social networking than photography, but you can search for photos and videos that you’d like to see, and each includes info from the photographer and comments from their followers. If you take the time for that search, you can find some gems.

Instagram is free.

Pixelfed

Screenshot: Pixelfed
Pixelfed is a part of the same fediverse as Mastodon.

Pixelfed is, as the name might indicate, part of the fediverse made known over the past few years by social networks such as Mastodon. The open-source tool advertises itself as an ad-free “fresh take on photo sharing,” with chronological feeds and a privacy-friendly outlook. And like Mastodon, if you aren’t familiar with its format or that of similar apps, it may take a bit of education to get going. To start, you select one of a variety of Pixelfed servers; if you’re already a Mastodon member, you can sign in via your existing server.

Once you’ve overcome the server issue, though, Pixelfed offers a very straightforward interface with some lively conversation. Especially if you’re already a part of the fediverse, this could be an interesting Instagram alternative.

Flickr

Screenshot: Flickr
Flickr offers a wide range of photos and photographers, along with comments from their followers.

Flickr has been around for a long time and features a range of members — from home photographers to pros — and a variety of features, including a comments section and metadata about the photo and camera. If the owner of the photo allows downloading, you can choose from a number of different sizes and dimensions.

Free accounts can only upload up to 1,000 items and can’t post what Flickr calls “moderate and restricted content.” (In other words, partial and full nudity along with other sexual no-nos). In addition, free accounts are not allowed more than 50 nonpublic photos, and there are ads.

If you want no ads, unlimited uploads, unlimited nonpublic photos, and fewer restrictions on what you upload, it will cost $9.49 a month, $72.99 for one year, or $132.99 for two years, plus tax.

500px

Screenshot: Degoo
500px lets you follow your favorite photographers, see info about each photo, and comment on their work.

If you’re looking for a place to show off your cat photos, this isn’t it — unless they’re really good cat photos. 500px offers photographers a place to store, exhibit, and license their work and get some helpful comments from fans and knowledgeable pros.

The free ad-supported plan affords you 21 uploads a week. Otherwise, you can try the Awesome plan, which offers unlimited uploads, priority support, no ads, a history of “liked” photos, gallery slideshows, and a profile badge for $59.88 a year or $6.49 a month. The Pro plan adds a way to create a customizable portfolio for $119.88 a year or $12.99 monthly. (You get a discount on your first year: Awesome costs $47.90 for the year, while Pro goes for $95.90.) There is a 30-day free trial, too.

DeviantArt

Screenshot: DeviantArt
Photographers on DeviantArt can create galleries for public viewing.

Like 500px, DeviantArt is more for professional photographers than casual picture takers, although anyone can join for free. It offers visitors a wide range of galleries to view, each divided into categories, such as traditional, animation, and illustrations. The emphasis here is on creating a community of artists, so there aren’t only comments but also chat features. There is also an AI app called DreamUp to help you create new art; a free membership gets you four prompts per month.

The free membership also has no restrictions on how many public photos you can upload. If you want to sell your photography, you can do so, but only for up to $100. If you want to charge more, a Core Plus membership for $6.67 a month lets you sell your art for a 12 to 15 percent fee on sales with a $1,000 maximum price per digital item. You also get 50GB of private storage space, 200 AI prompts per month, and other features. If you need more space or higher sale prices, other levels are available.

VSCO

Screenshot: VSCO
VSCO is an online space for photographers to store, edit, share, and sell their work.

VSCO is an online space for professional photographers to store, edit, share, and sell their work; a feature called VSCO Spaces allows members to create shared galleries “around a particular theme, photography style, event, or location.” Using the free version, you can use a limited number of editing tools, create a public space to show off your photos, and browse community discussions. A Plus-level member can access more robust features such as video editing and the ability to take part in discussions for $7.99 a month or $29.99 annually, while a Pro-level membership gets you the ability to create galleries of your work along with a full suite of editing tools for $12.99 a month or $59.99 annually.

Glass

Screenshot: Glass
You can search through Glass photos according to a variety of categories.

Glass offers its own community for photographers — a place to create and share portfolios and give and receive comments. There is essentially no free version; if you want to look around, you can create a profile and follow up to three members, but you can’t upload your own photos or comment on others. Photography buffs can search through member photos using categories (which you can drill down to encompass something as specific as “silent protests” or “flight over water”). You can also see the work of specific members, curated highlights, and even photos taken using specific cameras or lenses.

Glass costs $6.99 a month or $39.99 a year for full access to its features; you can also become a “Patron” for $129.99 a year. There is a 14-day free trial.

Vero

Screenshot: Vero
Vero offers photographers a place to exhibit their work and talk with their fans.

Vero wants to make itself a place for a variety of creators, including photographers. The emphasis here is on social networking rather than just posting photos. You can create a post using a photo, a link to a site, or an audio file. You can search for and follow featured users or try the Discovery section to find an artist you like.

Vero is currently ad-free and, it says, algorithm-free; an FAQ page explains exactly what data it collects and when. The app is currently free for “Founding Members” but may institute an annual fee for new members in the future. The site’s first page announces it’s looking for “co-owners,” which may not bode well for its continued existence. Still, it looks like a friendly place to show your stuff.

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The Wave 2 heat pump is very capable for its size, but EcoFlow’s absurd marketing sets unrealistic expectations. The EcoFlow Wave 2 is an air conditioner, heater, and fan that can uniquely be powered by a battery and solar panel. This portable heat pump packs a lot of cooling and heating for its size and could be a game changer for some or a disappointment for others. It all depends on whether you believe EcoFlow’s marketing.
A heat pump’s ability to transfer heat in and out of a room is what makes these increasingly popular appliances so efficient, but EcoFlow’s pitch for the diminutive Wave 2 is absurd and misleading. It shows people using it inside a spacious living room, a large RV, on the deck of a boat, and outside at a campsite. Some backpacker even carried it into the mountains to use with a tent.

Image: EcoFlow
One of several absurd and misleading images EcoFlow uses to promote the Wave 2. It cannot heat or cool this campsite as shown.

After a year of testing, I can assure you that the Wave 2 will not cool or heat those spaces in any meaningful way as depicted. It certainly won’t raise or lower the temperature by 18 degrees Fahrenheit (8 degrees Celsius) in just five minutes, as EcoFlow claims.
I’ve tested the $799 Wave 2 to both heat and cool a shipping-container-sized surf shack, and to cool both a campervan and a tiny bedroom in an old Portuguese farmhouse. The fastest temperature change I’ve seen is an 8F (4.6C) drop in 30 minutes, well below EcoFlow’s claim. But it also kept a room at 72F (22C) or below on a day that reached 99F (37C) outside. Its worst performance resulted in no temperature change at all.
Notably, in some climates, a 400W solar panel could conceivably keep the $1,199 Wave 2 with battery add-on running continuously without ever needing to plug it into a wall socket. The Wave 2 is certainly innovative and a very capable device in some limited scenarios — but it’s not the little miracle EcoFlow makes it seem.

EcoFlow’s Wave 2 is fitted with a compact compressor, condenser, and heat exchanger with air exhaust and intake pairs on both sides of the device that form two closed loops. The system works by moving heat from one loop to the other to either cool or heat the space you’re in. This ability to transfer heat instead of generating hot and cold air is what makes heat pumps so efficient. JerryRigEverything has a good Wave 2 teardown that also explains how everything works in more detail.
The Wave 2 is very small for an HVAC unit which is both a strength and a weakness. It measures just 20.4 x 11.7 x 13.2 inches (518 x 297 x 336mm) and weighs only 32 pounds (14.5kg). It’s rated for 1500W / 5100BTU hours of cooling capacity and 1800W / 6100BTU hours of heating capacity, yet only pulls about 200W to 450W in my testing. But anyone who’s ever purchased an air conditioner can tell you that 5100BTUs isn’t a lot of cooling capacity.
Basic window-mounted A/Cs commonly sold in the US usually start at around 8000BTUs. They cost less than half the price of the Wave 2 but consume far more power over time. You can also buy a much less portable 14000BTU heat pump from Midea for $100 less than the Wave 2 if you can afford the extra space it requires.
But only the Wave 2 can be fitted with an optional battery that adds 17.2 pounds (7.8kg) to the total weight and up to eight hours of untethered run time. Uniquely, that battery can be charged by an efficient 700W DC-to-DC connection from many of EcoFlow’s giant power stations. Or take advantage of the battery’s XT150 jack to charge it from just about any power station or DC-to-DC charger. It can also be charged from a standard AC wall jack (820W max), solar (11-60V / 13A, 400W max), or a vehicle’s cigarette lighter outlet (200W max).
Placement of the Wave 2 is limited by several factors, including the rather short AC power cord and the 55.1-inch (140-cm) long ducts that require five- and six-inch (12.7-cm and 15.2-cm) diameter openings in a window. You might also need a bucket within reach of the drainage hose to capture any accumulated condensation.

Had to put the Wave 2 on the bed of this 800 cubic foot surf shack to reach the only window that could be used for the external exhaust and intake ducts.

I used the Wave 2’s cardboard box and an old sarong for insulation. This large casement window is less than ideal for air flow.

Last year I tried using the Wave 2 to heat and cool a single-room surf shack measuring about 800 cubic feet. I wasn’t impressed as it failed to effectively regulate the temperature in both cases. I did, however, benefit from the warm or cool air blowing directly on me, especially when falling asleep, but it didn’t do enough to justify the price.
Then I read the fine print. Ecoflow says the Wave 2 works best in spaces measuring less than 350 cubic feet (10 cubic meters), which is just big enough to fit a double bed and two side tables. Heating and cooling performance is roughly the same in such compact places — it’s a wee bit louder when cooling and uses slightly more power when heating. But the Wave 2 is not a heater for very cold winters. Instead, it’s designed to operate in temperatures between 41F and 122F (5C and 50C). And since EcoFlow says it’s “the industry’s most powerful and compact portable A/C,” I mainly tested its cooling abilities during a very hot summer.
So, with my expectations reset, I’ve been using the Wave 2 for the last few weeks to cool down a small 500-cubic-foot bedroom and a 364-cubic-foot Sprinter van in central Portugal, where cloudless skies have regularly produced temperatures too extreme for my Scottish ancestry.

The Wave 2 barely fits on the floor in front of the Sprinter’s passenger seat. I cut a piece of foam for the window vents.

The Sprinter fully exposed to the sun to charge its rooftop solar panels proved too much for the Wave 2 to handle. The Wave 2 ducts can be seen above the passenger-side window.

Setting up the Wave 2 in the Sprinter requires more patience than in a home — but that’s true with everything in vanlife. After parking, I have to lug the unit out of the van’s storage to place it in front of the passenger seat. Then, I attach the battery, drain hose, and receptacle and carefully run the paper-thin ducting up and out through the window using a thick foam insert I created. I’ve got the whole thing down to under 10 minutes.

The excellent EcoFlow app works over Bluetooth or Wi-Fi to keep track of your cooling from anywhere. In this case, it was blowing 2.3C (36F) air into the room, which had dropped to 18.1C (65F).

I tested the Wave 2’s cooling inside the van at night and in direct sunlight. For the sunlight test, I closed the doors and covered the inside of the windows with insulated and reflective covers. With the cooling set to maximum at the unit’s lowest possible temperature (16C / 61F), the inside of the van remained roughly the same as the outside, which ranged from 86F to a sweltering 99F (30C to 37C). That’s not bad considering the interior could have easily surpassed 120F (49F) without the Wave 2 running, but it’s still a fail in my book since higher capacity rooftop A/Cs (costing more than $2,000) from companies like Dometic and Coleman would have tamed that heat.
Of course, I suspected the Wave 2’s meager 5100BTU capacity would fail this test, but EcoFlow’s pitch to vanlifers is that the Wave 2 will “cool or warm, anywhere, anytime” which just isn’t true, especially for RVs — many of which are much larger than a class-B Sprinter van — that must park in the sun to recharge their leisure batteries off rooftop solar.
Cooling the Sprinter after the sun went down yielded much better results. On the warmest night of my testing when it was 72F to 77F (22C to 25C) outside, I was able to lower the internal temperature to about 66F (19C) and maintain it into the morning. The van got so cold that I needed a down-filled duvet at one point. That’s a major win, with one caveat.
The Wave 2’s optional 1159Wh battery only lasts about two and a half hours on max mode in my testing, or over eight in eco mode, its most energy-efficient setting. That wasn’t enough juice to keep the A/C running all night in a mix of max and eco cooling modes, so I had to plug the Wave 2 into the much larger solar generator I carry to power things like my van’s lighting, induction cooktop, and coffee maker. When I woke up, that bigger battery had drained to 10 percent, leaving me with precious little power to start my day.

The Wave 2 did a great job of cooling this tiny bedroom even as temperatures hit 99F (37C) outside.

The tiny window and two-foot-thick stone wall certainly helped the Wave 2’s operation.

My final test was to cool a small room in a restored Portuguese farmhouse. Here the Wave 2 received an assist from the room’s one tiny window cut into a structure with two-foot thick stone walls. On yet another 99F (37C) day I managed to keep the room between 68F and 72F (20C to 22C) with the Wave 2 operating in a mix of low to medium settings, even as the temperature inside the house peaked at 83F (28C). Impressive.
Over the last year of on and (mostly) off operation I’ve noticed two problems with my review unit. First, the buttons on the physical control panel now only work intermittently, perhaps because they got squashed from all the moving around. It’s not really an issue, though, because I prefer to control the unit with the excellent EcoFlow app which works well over Bluetooth and Wi-Fi.
Of greater concern is the very loud and irritating noise the Wave 2 sometimes produces. I think it’s related to the water pump as it sometimes happens when the water receptacle is full or the drain hose is looped in a way that reduces gravity’s help. The squeal is identical to the sound reported by several other users. EcoFlow tells me that there’s a known issue related to the water pump clogging due to debris or trapped air. Affected owners can request a replacement under warranty.
Other observations:

When initially cooling a room on max setting the Wave 2 is a loud 53dB from a meter away, which drops to a reasonable 45dB in Eco mode — that’s consistent with the quietest of basic window A/Cs.
The Wave 2 can automatically evaporate condensation that develops during the heat exchange process, but only in environments with less than 70 percent humidity.
The optional battery includes 100W USB-C and 18W USB-A charging ports for your gadgets.
IPX4 water resistance makes it okay for the Wave 2 (and IP65 battery) to get caught in the rain.
The top hose duct warms up considerably when exhausting heat outside the window (and thereby cooling the room). Good idea to wrap it in insulation for more permanent installations instead of bleeding that heat (or cold) back into the room.

The lightbar turns red for heat or blue for cool and can be turned off completely. Everything can be controlled from the panel on top of the device, but my buttons no longer work reliably.

The Wave 2 heat pump is a fairly niche but interesting product that works best to cool and heat small spaces located in temperate climates. It can even cool a small room in a very warm climate if the insulation is good enough. It’s also a good choice for vanlifers looking for some occasional DIY temperature control, especially at night and when traveling beyond the grid. But if you regularly need to heat or cool a living space larger than 350 cubic feet (10 cubic meters) in more extreme climates, you should consider more traditional cooling and heating options.
Still, as a budding vanlifer and off-grid adventurer, I’m excited by the future of battery-powered heat pumps. The Wave 2 already improved upon the original EcoFlow Wave, and EcoFlow tells me that a third generation is coming in 2025.
All photography by Thomas Ricker / The Verge

The Wave 2 heat pump is very capable for its size, but EcoFlow’s absurd marketing sets unrealistic expectations.

The EcoFlow Wave 2 is an air conditioner, heater, and fan that can uniquely be powered by a battery and solar panel. This portable heat pump packs a lot of cooling and heating for its size and could be a game changer for some or a disappointment for others. It all depends on whether you believe EcoFlow’s marketing.

A heat pump’s ability to transfer heat in and out of a room is what makes these increasingly popular appliances so efficient, but EcoFlow’s pitch for the diminutive Wave 2 is absurd and misleading. It shows people using it inside a spacious living room, a large RV, on the deck of a boat, and outside at a campsite. Some backpacker even carried it into the mountains to use with a tent.

Image: EcoFlow
One of several absurd and misleading images EcoFlow uses to promote the Wave 2. It cannot heat or cool this campsite as shown.

After a year of testing, I can assure you that the Wave 2 will not cool or heat those spaces in any meaningful way as depicted. It certainly won’t raise or lower the temperature by 18 degrees Fahrenheit (8 degrees Celsius) in just five minutes, as EcoFlow claims.

I’ve tested the $799 Wave 2 to both heat and cool a shipping-container-sized surf shack, and to cool both a campervan and a tiny bedroom in an old Portuguese farmhouse. The fastest temperature change I’ve seen is an 8F (4.6C) drop in 30 minutes, well below EcoFlow’s claim. But it also kept a room at 72F (22C) or below on a day that reached 99F (37C) outside. Its worst performance resulted in no temperature change at all.

Notably, in some climates, a 400W solar panel could conceivably keep the $1,199 Wave 2 with battery add-on running continuously without ever needing to plug it into a wall socket. The Wave 2 is certainly innovative and a very capable device in some limited scenarios — but it’s not the little miracle EcoFlow makes it seem.

EcoFlow’s Wave 2 is fitted with a compact compressor, condenser, and heat exchanger with air exhaust and intake pairs on both sides of the device that form two closed loops. The system works by moving heat from one loop to the other to either cool or heat the space you’re in. This ability to transfer heat instead of generating hot and cold air is what makes heat pumps so efficient. JerryRigEverything has a good Wave 2 teardown that also explains how everything works in more detail.

The Wave 2 is very small for an HVAC unit which is both a strength and a weakness. It measures just 20.4 x 11.7 x 13.2 inches (518 x 297 x 336mm) and weighs only 32 pounds (14.5kg). It’s rated for 1500W / 5100BTU hours of cooling capacity and 1800W / 6100BTU hours of heating capacity, yet only pulls about 200W to 450W in my testing. But anyone who’s ever purchased an air conditioner can tell you that 5100BTUs isn’t a lot of cooling capacity.

Basic window-mounted A/Cs commonly sold in the US usually start at around 8000BTUs. They cost less than half the price of the Wave 2 but consume far more power over time. You can also buy a much less portable 14000BTU heat pump from Midea for $100 less than the Wave 2 if you can afford the extra space it requires.

But only the Wave 2 can be fitted with an optional battery that adds 17.2 pounds (7.8kg) to the total weight and up to eight hours of untethered run time. Uniquely, that battery can be charged by an efficient 700W DC-to-DC connection from many of EcoFlow’s giant power stations. Or take advantage of the battery’s XT150 jack to charge it from just about any power station or DC-to-DC charger. It can also be charged from a standard AC wall jack (820W max), solar (11-60V / 13A, 400W max), or a vehicle’s cigarette lighter outlet (200W max).

Placement of the Wave 2 is limited by several factors, including the rather short AC power cord and the 55.1-inch (140-cm) long ducts that require five- and six-inch (12.7-cm and 15.2-cm) diameter openings in a window. You might also need a bucket within reach of the drainage hose to capture any accumulated condensation.

Last year I tried using the Wave 2 to heat and cool a single-room surf shack measuring about 800 cubic feet. I wasn’t impressed as it failed to effectively regulate the temperature in both cases. I did, however, benefit from the warm or cool air blowing directly on me, especially when falling asleep, but it didn’t do enough to justify the price.

Then I read the fine print. Ecoflow says the Wave 2 works best in spaces measuring less than 350 cubic feet (10 cubic meters), which is just big enough to fit a double bed and two side tables. Heating and cooling performance is roughly the same in such compact places — it’s a wee bit louder when cooling and uses slightly more power when heating. But the Wave 2 is not a heater for very cold winters. Instead, it’s designed to operate in temperatures between 41F and 122F (5C and 50C). And since EcoFlow says it’s “the industry’s most powerful and compact portable A/C,” I mainly tested its cooling abilities during a very hot summer.

So, with my expectations reset, I’ve been using the Wave 2 for the last few weeks to cool down a small 500-cubic-foot bedroom and a 364-cubic-foot Sprinter van in central Portugal, where cloudless skies have regularly produced temperatures too extreme for my Scottish ancestry.

Setting up the Wave 2 in the Sprinter requires more patience than in a home — but that’s true with everything in vanlife. After parking, I have to lug the unit out of the van’s storage to place it in front of the passenger seat. Then, I attach the battery, drain hose, and receptacle and carefully run the paper-thin ducting up and out through the window using a thick foam insert I created. I’ve got the whole thing down to under 10 minutes.

I tested the Wave 2’s cooling inside the van at night and in direct sunlight. For the sunlight test, I closed the doors and covered the inside of the windows with insulated and reflective covers. With the cooling set to maximum at the unit’s lowest possible temperature (16C / 61F), the inside of the van remained roughly the same as the outside, which ranged from 86F to a sweltering 99F (30C to 37C). That’s not bad considering the interior could have easily surpassed 120F (49F) without the Wave 2 running, but it’s still a fail in my book since higher capacity rooftop A/Cs (costing more than $2,000) from companies like Dometic and Coleman would have tamed that heat.

Of course, I suspected the Wave 2’s meager 5100BTU capacity would fail this test, but EcoFlow’s pitch to vanlifers is that the Wave 2 will “cool or warm, anywhere, anytime” which just isn’t true, especially for RVs — many of which are much larger than a class-B Sprinter van — that must park in the sun to recharge their leisure batteries off rooftop solar.

Cooling the Sprinter after the sun went down yielded much better results. On the warmest night of my testing when it was 72F to 77F (22C to 25C) outside, I was able to lower the internal temperature to about 66F (19C) and maintain it into the morning. The van got so cold that I needed a down-filled duvet at one point. That’s a major win, with one caveat.

The Wave 2’s optional 1159Wh battery only lasts about two and a half hours on max mode in my testing, or over eight in eco mode, its most energy-efficient setting. That wasn’t enough juice to keep the A/C running all night in a mix of max and eco cooling modes, so I had to plug the Wave 2 into the much larger solar generator I carry to power things like my van’s lighting, induction cooktop, and coffee maker. When I woke up, that bigger battery had drained to 10 percent, leaving me with precious little power to start my day.

My final test was to cool a small room in a restored Portuguese farmhouse. Here the Wave 2 received an assist from the room’s one tiny window cut into a structure with two-foot thick stone walls. On yet another 99F (37C) day I managed to keep the room between 68F and 72F (20C to 22C) with the Wave 2 operating in a mix of low to medium settings, even as the temperature inside the house peaked at 83F (28C). Impressive.

Over the last year of on and (mostly) off operation I’ve noticed two problems with my review unit. First, the buttons on the physical control panel now only work intermittently, perhaps because they got squashed from all the moving around. It’s not really an issue, though, because I prefer to control the unit with the excellent EcoFlow app which works well over Bluetooth and Wi-Fi.

Of greater concern is the very loud and irritating noise the Wave 2 sometimes produces. I think it’s related to the water pump as it sometimes happens when the water receptacle is full or the drain hose is looped in a way that reduces gravity’s help. The squeal is identical to the sound reported by several other users. EcoFlow tells me that there’s a known issue related to the water pump clogging due to debris or trapped air. Affected owners can request a replacement under warranty.

Other observations:

When initially cooling a room on max setting the Wave 2 is a loud 53dB from a meter away, which drops to a reasonable 45dB in Eco mode — that’s consistent with the quietest of basic window A/Cs.
The Wave 2 can automatically evaporate condensation that develops during the heat exchange process, but only in environments with less than 70 percent humidity.
The optional battery includes 100W USB-C and 18W USB-A charging ports for your gadgets.
IPX4 water resistance makes it okay for the Wave 2 (and IP65 battery) to get caught in the rain.
The top hose duct warms up considerably when exhausting heat outside the window (and thereby cooling the room). Good idea to wrap it in insulation for more permanent installations instead of bleeding that heat (or cold) back into the room.

The lightbar turns red for heat or blue for cool and can be turned off completely. Everything can be controlled from the panel on top of the device, but my buttons no longer work reliably.

The Wave 2 heat pump is a fairly niche but interesting product that works best to cool and heat small spaces located in temperate climates. It can even cool a small room in a very warm climate if the insulation is good enough. It’s also a good choice for vanlifers looking for some occasional DIY temperature control, especially at night and when traveling beyond the grid. But if you regularly need to heat or cool a living space larger than 350 cubic feet (10 cubic meters) in more extreme climates, you should consider more traditional cooling and heating options.

Still, as a budding vanlifer and off-grid adventurer, I’m excited by the future of battery-powered heat pumps. The Wave 2 already improved upon the original EcoFlow Wave, and EcoFlow tells me that a third generation is coming in 2025.

All photography by Thomas Ricker / The Verge

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