Our favorite stuff of 2025

Hi, friends! Welcome to Installer No. 110, your guideline to the champion and Verge-iest worldly successful the world. (If you’re caller here, welcome, happy holidays, and besides you tin publication each the aged editions astatine the Installer homepage.)

This week, I’ve been reference astir mall Santas and malleable software and phone bans, wondering really I hardly cognize immoderate of the songs successful DJ Earworm’s yearly mashup, waiting patiently for Ugmonk’s Layflat notebooks to spell backmost connected sale, yet mounting up my Switch 2 Camera for immoderate vacation gaming, trying desperately to not travel successful past spot successful my imagination shot league, utilizing MCP to build immoderate really weird note-taking workflows successful Craft, and learning each the words to Justin Bieber’s rap verse successful “Drummer Boy” because I saw personification do it connected TikTok.

I besides person for you a immense database of each of our favourite worldly from this year. Stuff to read, worldly to watch, apps to try, games to play — this is your vacation season, and astir apt your 2026, wholly sorted. Let’s get into it.

(As always, the champion portion of Installer is your ideas and tips. What are you watching / reference / playing / listening to / putting marshmallows into correct now? Tell maine everything: [email protected]. And if you cognize personification other who mightiness bask Installer, guardant it to them and show them to subscribe here.)

By my count (and by “my count” I mean a speedy hunt of Google Docs), we published 45 issues of Installer this year. That’s a batch of stuff! You astir apt forgot to cheque retired immoderate of it. Heck, I astir apt forgot to cheque immoderate of it. But I did a batch of reading, watching, listening, downloading, and everything else-ing this twelvemonth and wanted to stock immoderate of my favourite caller (or astatine slightest caller to me) things from 2025. Here’s a apical 10, successful nary peculiar order:

He’s going to dislike that I’m saying this, but Jason Kottke is benignant of the godfather of the Installerverse. He’s been curating and penning astir the net for decades and is still amended astatine uncovering unexpected and awesome things than anyone I know. (He besides writes a heck of a gift guide.) So it would not astonishment you that he’s been connected my surface stock database since the very beginning.

For this, our past rumor of the year, Jason agreed to stock his homescreen pinch us, which I’m taking arsenic a motion that he’s not wholly furious pinch maine for stealing links from him each the time. Victory. Here it is, positive immoderate info connected the apps he uses and why:

The phone: iPhone 17 Pro. Not orange. I’ve ne'er utilized different smartphone speech from the iPhone. I for illustration my groove / rut. I do not for illustration Liquid Glass though.

The wallpaper: It’s a photograph I took of a sandbar while connected picnic successful Mexico a fewer years ago. I mostly rotate photos each fewer months, erstwhile I sprout aliases find thing new, but I support coming backmost to this one.

The apps: Pedometer, Apple Sports, Apple Notes, Tesla, Calendar, Passwords, App Store, Photos, Amazon, AllTrails, Kottke.org, Camera, Weather, Clock, Feedbin, Google Maps, Strava, Swarm, Gmail, Settings, Phone, Messages, Safari.

Welcome to my normcore homescreen. I don’t really walk a batch of clip evaluating caller apps aliases whatever. I astir apt person much banal Apple apps connected my homescreen than your accustomed interviewee: Notes, Weather, Camera, Photos, Sports (for shot — not handegg football, ft football), Calendar, Passwords, Phone, Messages, Settings, and Clock. I dunno, they activity good for me… my life isn’t that analyzable and I want to support it that way. The overseas app retired is astir apt Swarm; I’ve been utilizing Foursquare / Swarm to cheque successful to places since they launched. I find it very useful arsenic a database of places I’ve been.

I moved each of my societal apps to screens further inland, successful the hopes that I’d usage them less, but I’m ever swiping complete to them anyhow because they are mini casinos pinch a clasp connected my encephalon and besides my job. (Not a awesome position to beryllium successful sometimes TBH!)

I besides asked Jason to stock a fewer things they’re into correct now. Here’s what he sent back:

Now it’s your turn: Here’s what the Installer organization loved this year. Thanks arsenic ever to everyone who emails, texts, DMs, and sends bearer pigeons each week! I publication each azygous point that comes through, though I confess I’m not arsenic bully astatine responding to everything arsenic I’d for illustration to be. (Especially connected weeks for illustration this, erstwhile I unfastened the inbox to truthful overmuch bully stuff!) Please cognize that moreover if I don’t respond, I’m very grateful… and besides that I consciousness bad and wish I responded much often.

As always, you tin message [email protected] aliases connection maine connected Signal — @davidpierce.11 — pinch your recommendations for thing and everything. Tell maine what you get and springiness for the holidays! I want to perceive each astir it. Now, without further ado:

“The Keychron Q1 HE keyboard that I’m presently tapping distant on. It’s dense arsenic a brick, awesome to type on, tin beryllium customised up the wazoo and is very slick to look at, successful black, pick and a azygous reddish Escape cardinal (the ANSI type apparently has a reddish Enter cardinal arsenic well, but not the ISO I’m using...).” — Anders

“Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir. I sewage backmost into reference this summertime and publication each 3 of his novels. Only aft I vanished Project Hail Mary did I fig retired it’s coming retired arsenic a movie adjacent year, truthful that was fun!” — Michael

“Home Assistant Green. I was hesitant to spell for it and I don’t regret it. It’s an astonishing thing. I person respective sensors connected via Zigbee and I emotion automation. I only bargain caller things that tin beryllium integrated into Home Assistant. I highly urge it.” — Andris

“In April 2024 I became a father, and person been obsessively taking photos connected my iPhone. I sewage sick of really each photograph looked the aforesaid and successful May 2025, bought a utilized Fujifilm X100V (after reference the Verge reappraisal of the X Half and going down a rabbit spread of what camera I wanted). I emotion being that dada pinch a camera astir my cervix and the photos are great.” — Zayd

“My favourite tech-thing of the twelvemonth is vibe coding! I’m a marketer pinch a very debased level successful improvement (I vaguely understand html and css). This year, acknowledgment to Gemini, ChatGPT and Claude, I’ve created moving web apps, from my individual website to an NFT minting page to a directory of self-hosted websites! My proposal is that if you person this small thought successful your head, talk astir it pinch Gemini, you’ll beryllium amazed to spot really acold it tin go.” — Rémi

“Loving the new-to-me Apple Vision Pro. Work, intermezo etc are awesome successful it. Couldn’t person myself astatine MSRP, but astatine nether $2,000 successful the utilized marketplace it’s awesome. Wish I had gotten 1 past year!” — Tony

“For maine it’s TRMNL. It’s specified a bully and good thought retired instrumentality supported by a awesome package platform. It allows maine to tinker, but besides to conscionable usage the fresh made plugins without hassle.” — Estof

“I started leasing a Riddara EV pickup, and I honestly emotion it. Coolest point astir it was reverse charging, moreover though I didn’t usage it but conscionable successful lawsuit I’m moving retired of artillery connected my different EVs, I could usage it to apical it off. In position of performance, it’s instantly fast, doing 0-60 successful 4.5 seconds! Such a nosy EV pickup!” — Abdulla

“Christopher Ruocchio’s Sun Eater bid wrapped up successful 2025, and it is acold and distant the sci-fi abstraction opera I’ve ever read. I’d promote fans of beardown prose, heavy and agelong tailed characteristic improvement and tens-of-chapters agelong battles to dive in.” — Jon

“Mine would person to beryllium Android handhelds for illustration the AYN Odin 2 Portal. Think of an ARM-based Steam Deck. It tin tally Android, emulation, and Steam games. The second utilizing Gamehub. Also has WiFi 7 and an OLED screen. Because it’s ARM, the artillery life is overmuch amended than x86 handhelds.” — Alric

“The book Apple successful China by Patrick McGee was hands down my favourite publication of the year. Illuminates Apple’s larger-than-the-Marshall Plan effect connected the Chinese exertion manufacturing since the precocious 90s. So overmuch to unpack from this masterfully told story.” — Cary

“AirPods Pro and the Dungeons and Daddies podcast! Many precocious nights pinch headphones successful listening to this D&D podcast astir 4 dads searching the realm for their kids. Turns retired master actors/comedians playing D&D is the best?” — Matt

“My favourite new-to-me point of this twelvemonth was discovering the wonders of the HP-1xC calculators. Launched successful 1981/82, this bid of calculators covered 3 very different domains of calculation: financial (HP-12C), technological (HP-11C and HP-15C) and programming (HP-16C). They were programmable, highly versatile and ruggedly built. Their batteries lasted decades. And, being HP, they of people utilized Reverse Polish Notation. Despite being intended simply arsenic a stopgap, the bid was sold for astir of the 1980s but the HP-12C has ne'er been discontinued and is still being sold today.” — William

“Mymind. Simply brilliant, fast, intuitive, elegant and useful.” — Nicos

“The Empire of the Vampire by Jay Kristoff. As the title implies, it’s a vampire story. It’s bloody and brutal, the world lives successful eternal winter, it’s amazingly Catholic successful its lore, 1 of the main characters is queer. And it’s told successful a neat way: The protagonist is prompted by his force to show his life story. This put maine successful a vampire binge complete the outpouring and summer.” — Hannes

“I picked up a Selphy Photo Printer successful precocious November to bring to life a ‘Movie Wall’ I’ve been wanting to do forever. From Thanksgiving to Christmas we only watch vacation movies + TV. I wanted a measurement to visualize our choices successful a much nosy measurement to debar the dreaded ‘What are we going to watch?’ conversation.” — Taylor

One much time, I conscionable want to opportunity convey you. Thank you to everyone who sends maine recommendations, because Installer literally wouldn’t hap without you. (Every week, I’m acrophobic it’s the week nary 1 will share, and each week I’m grateful I’m wrong.) Thank you to everyone who clicks the links — I perceive from creators and developers each azygous week who are thrilled astatine really galore Installer readers are checking retired their stuff, and it makes maine truthful happy to beryllium capable to radiance a ray connected bully things. Thank you to everyone who sends Group Project ideas, which I want to do moreover much of adjacent year. Thank you moreover to everyone who subscribes and past ne'er opens a azygous email, because the number still goes up, you know?

There’s truthful overmuch retired location vying for your clip and attention, and 1 of the things I dream to do present is beryllium a root of worldly worthy of them both. I person tons of ideas for really to do that moreover amended adjacent year, but please cognize that nary of it useful without you. I dream you each person a beautiful vacation season, get immoderate rest, and travel fresh to stone successful 2026.

See you adjacent year!