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Teenage Engineering did it again
Gaming Gear

Teenage Engineering did it again

by admin


Hi, friends! Welcome to Installer No. 94, your guide to the best and Verge-iest stuff in the world. (If you’re new here, welcome, did you hydrate today, and also you can read all the old editions at the Installer homepage.)

I also have for you some durable cables, a great new Alien show, a strange RPG, and more.

(As always, the best part of Installer is your ideas and tips. What do you want to know more about? What awesome tricks do you know that everyone else should? What app should everyone be using? Tell me everything: [email protected]. And if you know someone else who might enjoy Installer, forward it to them and tell them to subscribe here.)

  • Teenage Engineering’s Computer-2 PC case: This small form factor PC case has some awesome Teenage Engineering flair. I love the hazy, semi-transparent look. Even better, the company is also giving it away for free — that is, when it’s back in stock again. At least you can sign up for a waitlist.
  • Fairphone’s new cables and chargers: Fairphone says its new accessories are more durable than what it offered before and made with sustainability in mind. They seem like solid cables and chargers, too, so they could be a great option if you like Fairphone’s mission.
  • Alien: Earth: FX’s new series set in the Alien universe is getting great reviews. My knowledge of the Alien franchise is limited to Alien and Aliens, but Alien: Earth looks really scary — and I’m overdue for a good scary show.
  • GuliKit’s ES and ES Pro controllers: If you want a higher-end Switch 2 controller but don’t want to pay $89.99, GuliKit’s new $24.99 and $29.99 options are considerably more affordable and offer perks like anti-drift joysticks. The controllers work on PC, Android, iOS, and macOS, too.
  • OFF: This surreal RPG, starring a baseball player on a mission to purify the world from ghosts, is now available in a modernized version on Steam and Nintendo Switch. I’ve played a little bit of it, and it’s quite strange — which I say in the most complimentary way.
  • Enter the Gungeon and Exit the Gungeon on mobile: The hit roguelike Enter the Gungeon is now available on iOS and Android for the first time, while Exit the Gungeon is back on iOS and has arrived on Google Play. Watch out for bullets.
  • Nobody 2: The sequel to 2021’s Nobody, starring Bob Odenkirk, as a former assassin is now in theaters. I never caught the first, but I love basically everything Odenkirk does, so I’m guessing I’d have a lot of fun with these.

This week I’m featuring Soren Iverson, who you may recognize as the person who posts unhinged design concepts on social media like an iOS app icon filling up based on how many notifications the app has. Whenever these cross my feed, I nearly always cackle. I expected him to bring some of that chaos on his actual homescreen, but I was surprised to learn that his homescreen is even more minimal than mine — which inspired me to make mine a little less busy, too.

Image: Soren Iverson

The wallpaper: A black screen. I try to make time on my phone intentional, I call, text, or take notes most frequently. Everything else I bury as a more intentional action I have to take so that I’m generally more focused.

The apps: Phone, Messages, Notes

I also asked Soren to share a few things he’s into right now. Here’s what he said:

  • I downloaded and started replaying Civilization III (yes, the one from 2001). It’s one of my favorite games, and I still love a lot of the choices they made with the interface design.
  • I recently watched The Decline of Western Civilization II. Super interesting three-part series on punk, metal, and has many great interviews in it (RIP Ozzy 🖤).
  • There’s this Instagram account called @furb_exotic, they make giant anthropomorphic Furbys that are equally disturbing and mesmerizing.
  • Snack Wraps, not normally a McDonald’s fan but, wow, they are good.

Here’s what the Installer community is into this week. I want to know what you’re into right now as well! Email [email protected] with your recommendations for anything and everything, and we’ll feature some of our favorites here every week. For even more great recommendations, check out the replies to this post on The Verge, this post on Threads, and this post on Bluesky.

“Buying a bunch of Ubiquiti gear for the new house that totally isn’t overkill.” — SorryAboutYourCat

“Model railroading. Been holding off converting to DCC from DC hoping a well designed modern alternative will appear, but it’s the same over priced out of date market it’s always been.” — RoboticsRob

“I’ve been playing Merge Maestro way too much. It’s a fun match game with Super Auto Pets-like emoji artwork. Free-to-start on mobile with a $2 price for the entire game.” — Dominick

“Reading: The Next Conversation by Jefferson Fisher. Playing: Dishonored for the first time. Watching: Mr. Robot and Murderbot (does this count as a theme?) Rabbit hole: Home Assistant and generally reducing my digital footprint (I say as making this public post).” — Omega86

“Just got to watching The Penguin, and it’s a really fun gangster romp set in Gotham. I’ve mostly tired of the superhero stuff, but I’m always a sucker for good origin tales, and this really delivers. And the secret is, it’s really about Sofia Falcone and her war with her patriarchal mob family. Cristin Milioti is fantastic in the role.” — verge_user_m573tv18

“UFO 50 just came out on the Nintendo Switch. I’ve been following the podcast Eggplant: The Secret Lives of Gamers, which is going through each of the 50 games in a book club-like format, with just one game a week.” — Wolf3d.exe -goobers

“I, like many other people, watched Barbarian recently on Netflix. It’s leaving on August 31st. The director’s new movie, Weapons, just came out. Highly, highly recommend Barbarian. It’s fun to go in blind, and even if you’ve seen the trailer, you’ll still be spared some of its great twists. There’s more humor in it than you might expect, and the gruesome aspects aren’t over-the-top.” — Cameron

Google is about to kick off the 2025 gadget season with its Pixel launch event on August 20th. I’d love to hear from you all: Are you planning to upgrade anything this year, and if so, why? What are you hoping Apple, Google, and others will announce? Or are you going to keep holding onto your gear?

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Crypto Trends

Russia Paying Teenage and Untrained Spies Using Bitcoin: Report

by admin



In brief

  • A recent Reuters report details how Russian intelligence agencies used Bitcoin to pay a teenage spy who was recently sentenced to jail in Poland.
  • Russia’s intelligence agencies are “constantly financing” agents using cryptocurrency, blockchain analytics firm Recoveris told Decrypt.
  • As well as funding spies using cryptocurrency, Russia has also financed private mercenaries and paid off European politicians to spread pro-Russian and anti-Ukraine messages

Russian intelligence services have been using Bitcoin to pay teenage and untrained spies, according to a Reuters investigation conducted in partnership with blockchain analytics firms Global Ledger and Recoveris.

A report from Reuters detailed the recent case of Laken Pavan, a Canadian national who in December was sentenced to 20 months in prison in Poland after pleading guilty to aiding Russian intelligence.

The Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) had recruited Pavan in late April 2024, after the Canadian—who was then 17 years old—had travelled to Donetsk to volunteer for the pro-Russian Interbrigades, after becoming radicalized online over the course of 2023.

In Donetsk, FSB agents detained Pavan for several days, using threats to recruit him as spy, and then assigning him a handler, known only as ‘Slon’ (Russian for ‘elephant’).

The FSB agents had told Pavan that he would be travelling to various places in Europe, including Ukraine, to gather intelligence, which would be shared with Slon.

From Donetsk, Pavan travelled to Istanbul and then to Copenhagen, which was where he received Bitcoin from Slon worth just over $500.

On May 22, a day after receiving the Bitcoin payments, Pavan travelled to Warsaw, where he turned himself in to Polish authorities.

This is where Pavan’s brief life as a Russian spy ends, but Global Ledger and Recoveris were able to trace the $500 in Bitcoin sent by Slon to two intermediary BTC wallets, which in turn had received hundreds of thousands of dollars in BTC from a large address created in June 2022.

The investigation also revealed that transfers to and from the wallets occurred during Moscow business hours, while analysis revealed that the largest wallet has processed BTC worth a total of $600 million.

The largest wallet had also sent funds to sanctioned Russian exchange Garantex, while Global Ledger reported that it appears to be funded by a “major mining pool and custodial service.”

While neither Global Ledger nor Recoveris could definitively identify ownership of the large wallet (or the two intermediary wallets), both lean towards the conclusion that it’s linked to the FSB.

“Transactions from wallets linked to the FSB followed a structured laundering pattern, involving fund splitting, mixing with larger sums, and routing through unconnected deposit wallets,” Global Ledger explained in its report for Reuters.

Russia’s crypto spy network

While Laken Pavan’s is only one case, Recoveris tells Decrypt that it has been observing how Russia’s intelligence and security agencies are “constantly financing” agents using cryptocurrency.

“This method has been uncovered on multiple occasions; for example, in 2023, a group of young Belarusians and Ukrainians based in Poland was found to be funded by the GRU in cryptocurrency,” said Recoveris CEO Marcin Zarakowski.

According to Zarakowski, the young spies were tasked with installing cameras on a major train route from Poland to Ukraine, tagging city walls with political propaganda to increase divisions in Polish society, and publishing fake news.

Since then, many other instances of GRU and FSB payments in cryptocurrency have been discovered in Poland, with some assets even being paid to commit arson.

“From the ongoing Recoveris intelligence, we can see that GRU/FSB wallets are active on a regular basis,” Zarakowski explained. “As an example, one address identified as FSB-related belongs to the cluster of 161 Bitcoin addresses with hundreds of outgoing transactions—almost all within the Moscow business hours 6am till 6pm.”

Russia’s use of cryptocurrencies also extends to financing private mercenaries fighting in the Donbas region on the Russian side of the war in Ukraine, and even paying off politicians in Europe to spread pro-Russian and anti-Ukraine messages.

And given the extensive range of sanctions placed on Russia and Russian entities, it’s likely that the FSB and other agencies will continue using cryptocurrency for some time to come.

“The advantage of using Bitcoin or cryptocurrency to pay agents or assets is that any amount of money in cryptocurrency (even millions of USD) can be moved instantly throughout the globe without any government barriers, except for the crypto-to-fiat gateway,” Zarakowski said,

On top of this, the Russian intelligence apparatus has plenty of use for the transparency afforded by cryptocurrencies.

“Handlers and higher-ranked intelligence officers can monitor crypto flow,” Zarakowski added. “Anything spent by agents can be audited to ensure it is being spent on operational purposes.”

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There's a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles game coming to Meta Quest 3 and SteamVR
Game Reviews

There’s a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles game coming to Meta Quest 3 and SteamVR

by admin



The heroes in a half shell are back, and this time they’re pressing right up against your eyeballs. That’s thanks to their debut VR outing, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Empire City, which is coming to Meta Quest 3 and SteamVR sometime next year.


Empire City is the work of Cortopia Studios – which co-developed last year’s well-received gladiatorial bludgeon-’em-up Gorn 2 – and follows Leonardo, Raphael, Donatello, and Michelangelo in an action-adventure set on (and presumably under) the Foot Clan-infested streets of New York City following Shredder’s demise.


It’s an adventure described as “equal parts hard-hitting combat and an exploration of the bonds of brotherhood”, and there’s talk of “fluid parkour” as players – and up to three friends – scale the urban landscape. Fan-favourite villains are also promised, all readying for a walloping – in battles built around strikes and blocks – with each turtle’s signature weapon.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Empire City announcement trailer.Watch on YouTube


And that, apart from confirmation The Last Ronin author Tom Waltz is saving as narrative consultant, is about all we know. The teaser trailer above isn’t much more informative, but you’ll find a handful of screenshots over on Steam. Expect more details in the run up to Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Empire City’s Steam VR and Meta Quest release in 2026.


It’s been busy few years for the Turtles, of course; following 2022’s brilliant beat-’em-up Shredder’s Revenge and acclaimed 2023 movie outing Mutant Mayhem, last year brought the fairly middling Mutants Unleashed and rogue-like Splintered Fate. Strange Scaffold took on the series earlier this month, nudging it into turn-based strategy territory with Tactical Takedown, and it’s already been confirmed more games – including the God of War-inspired The Last Ronin – are on the way. As a scaly green youth once put it, “Totally tubular, dude!”



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Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Tactical Takedown Review - Splitting Up The Family
Game Reviews

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Tactical Takedown Review – Splitting Up The Family

by admin


The Turtles have a long history in video games, and the spectrum of quality for those projects is all over the place. Strange Scaffold has opted for a novel departure from expectation with Tactical Takedown, taking the four radical green brothers into a grid-based tactical affair that still aims for a sense of high movement and excitement. Production values are limited, and the game’s scope is small, but fans can find a lot to enjoy in this turn-based adventure.

In this variation of the familiar setup, Splinter and Shredder are dead by the time the story begins, and the teenage ninja brothers are each confronting and grieving that reality in their way. The story setup establishes that each Turtle is off doing their own thing, but in a story and set up about a family working together, it’s an unusual choice that the entire game that follows has you controlling only one character at a time. A late-game addition attempts to confront that narrative disconnect, but it still feels strange to play a whole TMNT game and never see the heroes together.

While it’s an odd choice for a tactics game about a family of warriors, in practice, changing playable characters each level keeps things fresh. Michelangelo is about mobility, Raphael likes to push the attack, Donatello plays with traps and debuffs, and Leo is about power and evasion. Each skill in battle helps to differentiate the playstyles, and over time, you can use accrued points to buy additional powers, though I found that the initial mix of abilities led to clear synergies that were hard to abandon.

The 20 stages hop between locales like the sewers, subways, and city streets. But the square grid boards always lean into two core ideas – constant forward motion and a seemingly insurmountable number of enemies that you somehow manage to overcome. In tandem, those two things bring life and energy to the game and keep me having a good time. Traditional tactics games often encourage the use of cover. But in keeping with the “Ninja” part of the game’s name, Tactical Takedown requires that you dart in and out of range of attackers while steadily advancing across a battlefield that will fall away beneath your feet if you don’t move forward. The resulting momentum communicates a sense of speed and action, even as you navigate a static turn order.

 

Especially early on, battles can prove quite challenging until you wrap your head around each character’s specialties. That difficulty is at odds with the colorful, childlike nature of the presentation. With time, I warmed to the flow of fights and the intriguing puzzle of figuring out how to take out so many Foot Clan soldiers in one blazing turn of play.

While the simple character illustrations appropriately call back to Saturday morning vibes, the overall visual palette of the game doesn’t hit the mark. The rotatable isometric view recalls a miniature board game, but there are too few animations, too little detail on environments, and an overall generic feel that doesn’t do the game any favors. Even so, the interstitial pop-up dialogue boxes between levels capture the essence of the Turtles’ wholesome family drama. I smiled as the game rolled out long-established tropes like Donnie’s genius and Leo’s angsty leadership, as if watching an old cartoon episode play out in written snippets.

Even as a brief game of only a few hours, I felt ready for things to wrap up by the time I hit the credits, but that’s not an indictment of how it all came together. Instead, this new tactical twist on the Turtles knows not to overstay its welcome. It’s a bite-sized chunk of strategic fun with an evident love of these classic characters that shines through, and that’s worth plenty.



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