{"id":328232,"date":"2025-12-21T14:20:09","date_gmt":"2025-12-21T14:20:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/328232\/"},"modified":"2025-12-21T14:20:09","modified_gmt":"2025-12-21T14:20:09","slug":"the-best-movies-gadgets-apps-books-and-podcasts-of-2025","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/328232\/","title":{"rendered":"The best movies, gadgets, apps, books, and podcasts of 2025"},"content":{"rendered":"

Hi, friends! Welcome to Installer No. 110, your guide to the best and Verge-iest stuff in the world. (If you\u2019re new here, welcome, happy holidays, and also you can read all the old editions at the Installer homepage<\/a>.)<\/p>\n

This week, I\u2019ve been reading about mall Santas<\/a> and malleable software<\/a> and phone bans<\/a>, wondering how I barely know any of the songs in DJ Earworm\u2019s annual mashup<\/a>, waiting patiently for Ugmonk\u2019s Layflat notebooks<\/a> to go back on sale, finally setting up my Switch 2 Camera<\/a> for some holiday gaming, trying desperately to not come in last place in my fantasy football league, using MCP to build some really weird note-taking workflows in Craft<\/a>, and learning all the words to Justin Bieber\u2019s rap verse in \u201cDrummer Boy<\/a>\u201d because I saw someone do it on TikTok.<\/p>\n

I also have for you a huge list of all of our favorite stuff from this year. Stuff to read, stuff to watch, apps to try, games to play \u2014 this is your holiday season, and probably your 2026, totally sorted. Let\u2019s get into it.<\/p>\n

(As always, the best part of Installer is your ideas and tips. What are you watching \/ reading \/ playing \/ listening to \/ putting marshmallows into right now? Tell me everything: installer@theverge.com<\/a>. And if you know someone else who might enjoy Installer, forward it to them and tell them to subscribe here<\/a>.)<\/p>\n

My favorite stuff of 2025<\/p>\n

By my count (and by \u201cmy count\u201d I mean a quick search of Google Docs), we published 45 issues of Installer this year. That\u2019s a lot of stuff! You probably forgot to check out some of it. Heck, I probably forgot to check some of it. But I did a lot of reading, watching, listening, downloading, and everything else-ing this year and wanted to share some of my favorite new (or at least new to me) things from 2025. Here\u2019s a top 10, in no particular order:<\/p>\n

Enshittification<\/a>. Cory Doctorow\u2019s book was very fun to read, while simultaneously filling me with rage on every page. It explains the world in that way that is just really satisfying and helpful, a real oh so it\u2019s not just me sort of feeling. The Sony WH-1000XM6<\/a>. I bought both these and a pair of AirPods Pro 3 this year and like them both a great deal, but the Sonys are just a cut above. I can wear them all day, they sound great, their noise cancellation is ridiculous. Am I ashamed to admit I wore these a lot while holding screaming newborns this year? A little. But here we are.The Nintendo Switch 2<\/a>. Much as I love the headphones, this is my gadget purchase of the year. I spent years saying all I wanted was a better, faster Switch, and that\u2019s exactly what I got. Life in Mario Kart World is still really good. Claude Code.<\/a> There\u2019s a lot of crappy AI out there, but there\u2019s simply no question that large language models can write workable code for simple projects. I\u2019ve spent the year retuning my brain to solve all my tiny problems by building one-off apps and browser extensions, and suddenly my power knows no bounds.Antinote<\/a>. For all my note-taking systems, I am constantly in need of a quick scratchpad to just do some math or write stuff down. This Mac app is a scratchpad that doubles as a calculator, a timer, a list-maker, and much more. I use it (and the iOS beta!) a million times a day.The Studio<\/a>. Take my 2025 TV recommendations with a grain of salt, because for a lot of life and work reasons I\u2019ve never been so behind on great shows. (Pluribus is about to be my Christmas present to myself.) But I absolutely inhaled this show, which was inventive and weird and made me laugh in a way very few things do.Amazon\u2019s Echo Dot Max<\/a>. I haven\u2019t been a smart speaker guy for years, but we moved into a new house this fall, and I took the opportunity to install some smart lights and a new speaker. Turns out, yes, it\u2019s mostly for music and timers, but having a pretty responsive, pretty nice-sounding music and timers machine is pretty great?Philips Hue Essentials<\/a>. Smart lights are expensive. They also rule. I\u2019ve rigged mine up so that my once too-bright-and-too-cold house now feels cozy and warm all the time. Plus, as a person prone to just leaving lights on all the time for no reason, I am grateful to have a way to darken the whole house without getting out of bed.Good Hang<\/a>. It takes a lot for a new podcast to enter my rotation, and I don\u2019t listen to many celeb-to-celeb podcasts. And yet, I\u2019ve listened to every single one of these Amy Poehler chats. (And judging by the charts, so has everybody else.) The Martin Short episode<\/a> is one of the most delightful hours you\u2019ll find anywhere.Puzzmo<\/a>. I\u2019ve spent a lot of time trying to find better things to do on my phone, and the trade I recommend most is swapping social media scrolling for five minutes of puzzle games. From Really Bad Chess to Pile-Up Poker, Puzzmo is now one of the few apps I use every single day.<\/p>\n

He\u2019s going to hate that I\u2019m saying this, but Jason Kottke<\/a> is kind of the godfather of the Installerverse. He\u2019s been curating and writing about the internet for decades and is still better at finding unexpected and great things than anyone I know. (He also writes a heck of a gift guide<\/a>.) So it would not surprise you that he\u2019s been on my screen share list since the very beginning.<\/p>\n

For this, our last issue of the year, Jason agreed to share his homescreen with us, which I\u2019m taking as a sign that he\u2019s not totally furious with me for stealing links from him all the time. Victory. Here it is, plus some info on the apps he uses and why:<\/p>\n

\"Screenshot\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Screenshot<\/p>\n

The phone: iPhone 17 Pro. Not orange. I\u2019ve never used another smartphone aside from the iPhone. I like my groove \/ rut. I do not like Liquid Glass though.<\/p>\n

The wallpaper: It\u2019s a photo I took of a sandbar while on vacation in Mexico a few years ago. I generally rotate photos every few months, when I shoot or find something new, but I keep coming back to this one.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

Welcome to my normcore homescreen. I don\u2019t really spend a lot of time evaluating new apps or whatever. I probably have more stock Apple apps on my homescreen than your usual interviewee: Notes, Weather, Camera, Photos, Sports (for football \u2014 not handegg football, foot football), Calendar, Passwords, Phone, Messages, Settings, and Clock. I dunno, they work fine for me\u2026 my life isn\u2019t that complicated and I want to keep it that way. The odd app out is probably Swarm<\/a>; I\u2019ve been using Foursquare \/ Swarm to check in to places since they launched. I find it very useful as a database of places I\u2019ve been.<\/p>\n

I moved all of my social apps to screens further inland, in the hopes that I\u2019d use them less, but I\u2019m always swiping over to them anyway because they are tiny casinos with a hold on my brain and also my job. (Not a great position to be in sometimes TBH!)<\/p>\n

I also asked Jason to share a few things they\u2019re into right now. Here\u2019s what he sent back:<\/p>\n

You know who\u2019s really great at their jobs? Ken Burns and his collaborators. I\u2019ve been watching The American Revolution<\/a> on PBS, and it\u2019s just so interesting. It\u2019s the kind of show I put on and 10 minutes in, I\u2019m like, oh no, I actually wanted to go to sleep before 1AM tonight…Opus 4.5<\/a> and Claude Code<\/a> are sort of magical. It\u2019s stunning what it can do with very little hand-holding. A true disruptive inflection point.I\u2019m trying to get serious about saving links and notes, so I\u2019ve been experimenting with throwing everything I might want to see again into Raindrop<\/a>. Input works smoothly, but I haven\u2019t had much chance to grab stuff out of it yet. Gotta sow before you reap.<\/p>\n

Now it\u2019s your turn: Here\u2019s what the Installer community loved this year. Thanks as always to everyone who emails, texts, DMs, and sends carrier pigeons every week! I read every single thing that comes through, though I confess I\u2019m not as good at responding to everything as I\u2019d like to be. (Especially on weeks like this, when I open the inbox to so much good stuff!) Please know that even if I don\u2019t respond, I\u2019m very grateful\u2026 and also that I feel bad and wish I responded more often.<\/p>\n

As always, you can mail installer@theverge.com<\/a> or message me on Signal \u2014 @davidpierce.11 \u2014 with your recommendations for anything and everything. Tell me what you get and give for the holidays! I want to hear all about it. Now, without further ado:<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Keychron Q1 HE<\/a> keyboard that I\u2019m currently tapping away on. It\u2019s heavy as a brick, wonderful to type on, can be customised up the wazoo and is very slick to look at, in black, cream and a single red Escape key (the ANSI version apparently has a red Enter key as well, but not the ISO I\u2019m using…).\u201d \u2014 Anders<\/p>\n

\u201cProject Hail Mary<\/a> by Andy Weir. I got back into reading this summer and read all three of his novels. Only after I finished Project Hail Mary did I figure out it\u2019s coming out as a movie next year, so that was fun!\u201d \u2014 Michael<\/p>\n

\u201cHome Assistant Green<\/a>. I was hesitant to go for it and I don\u2019t regret it. It\u2019s an amazing thing. I have several sensors connected via Zigbee and I love automation. I only buy new things that can be integrated into Home Assistant. I highly recommend it.\u201d \u2014 Andris<\/p>\n

\u201cIn April 2024 I became a father, and have been obsessively taking photos on my iPhone. I got sick of how every photo looked the same and in May 2025, bought a used Fujifilm X100V<\/a> (after reading the Verge review of the X Half<\/a> and going down a rabbit hole of what camera I wanted). I love being that dad with a camera around my neck and the photos are great.\u201d \u2014 Zayd<\/p>\n

\u201cMy favorite tech-thing of the year is vibe coding! I\u2019m a marketer with a very low level in development (I vaguely understand html and css). This year, thanks to Gemini<\/a>, ChatGPT<\/a> and Claude<\/a>, I\u2019ve created working web apps, from my personal website to an NFT minting page to a directory of self-hosted websites! My advice is that if you have this little idea in your head, talk about it with Gemini, you\u2019ll be surprised to see how far it can go.\u201d \u2014 R\u00e9mi<\/p>\n

\u201cLoving the new-to-me Apple Vision Pro<\/a>. Work, entertainment etc are awesome in it. Couldn\u2019t convince myself at MSRP, but at under $2,000 in the used market it\u2019s awesome. Wish I had gotten one last year!\u201d \u2014 Tony<\/p>\n

\u201cFor me it\u2019s TRMNL<\/a>. It\u2019s such a nice and well thought out device supported by a great software platform. It allows me to tinker, but also to just use the ready made plugins without hassle.\u201d \u2014 Estof<\/p>\n

\u201cI started leasing a Riddara<\/a> EV pickup, and I honestly love it. Coolest thing about it was reverse charging, even though I didn\u2019t use it but just in case I\u2019m running out of battery on my other EVs, I could use it to top it off. In terms of performance, it\u2019s instantly fast, doing 0-60 in 4.5 seconds! Such a fun EV pickup!\u201d \u2014 Abdulla<\/p>\n

\u201cChristopher Ruocchio\u2019s Sun Eater<\/a> series wrapped up in 2025, and it is far and away the sci-fi space opera I\u2019ve ever read. I\u2019d encourage fans of strong prose, deep and long tailed character development and tens-of-chapters long battles to dive in.\u201d \u2014 Jon<\/p>\n

\u201cMine would have to be Android handhelds like the AYN Odin 2 Portal<\/a>. Think of an ARM-based Steam Deck. It can run Android, emulation, and Steam games. The latter using Gamehub. Also has WiFi 7 and an OLED screen. Because it\u2019s ARM, the battery life is much better than x86 handhelds.\u201d \u2014 Alric<\/p>\n

\u201cThe book Apple in China<\/a> by Patrick McGee was hands down my favorite read of the year. Illuminates Apple\u2019s larger-than-the-Marshall Plan impact on the Chinese technology manufacturing since the late 90s. So much to unpack from this masterfully told story.\u201d \u2014 Cary<\/p>\n

\u201cAirPods Pro<\/a> and the Dungeons and Daddies<\/a> podcast! Many late nights with headphones in listening to this D&D podcast about four dads searching the realm for their kids. Turns out professional actors\/comedians playing D&D is the best?\u201d \u2014 Matt<\/p>\n

\u201cMy favourite new-to-me thing of this year was discovering the wonders of the HP-1xC calculators<\/a>. Launched in 1981\/82, this series of calculators covered three very different domains of calculation: financial (HP-12C), scientific (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 course used Reverse Polish Notation. Despite being intended merely as a stopgap, the series was sold for most of the 1980s but the HP-12C has never been discontinued and is still being sold today.\u201d \u2014 William<\/p>\n

\u201cMymind<\/a>. Simply brilliant, fast, intuitive, elegant and useful.\u201d \u2014 Nicos<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Empire of the Vampire<\/a> by Jay Kristoff. As the title implies, it\u2019s a vampire story. It\u2019s bloody and brutal, the world lives in eternal winter, it\u2019s surprisingly Catholic in its lore, one of the main characters is queer. And it\u2019s told in a neat way: The protagonist is prompted by his enemy to tell his life story. This put me in a vampire binge over the spring and summer.\u201d \u2014 Hannes<\/p>\n

\u201cI picked up a Selphy Photo Printer<\/a> in late November to bring to life a \u2018Movie Wall\u2019 I\u2019ve been wanting to do forever. From Thanksgiving to Christmas we only watch holiday movies + TV. I wanted a way to visualize our choices in a more fun way to avoid the dreaded \u2018What are we going to watch?\u2019 conversation.\u201d \u2014 Taylor<\/p>\n

One more time, I just want to say thank you. Thank you to everyone who sends me recommendations, because Installer literally wouldn\u2019t happen without you. (Every week, I\u2019m afraid it\u2019s the week no one will share, and every week I\u2019m grateful I\u2019m wrong.) Thank you to everyone who clicks the links \u2014 I hear from creators and developers every single week who are thrilled at how many Installer readers are checking out their stuff, and it makes me so happy to be able to shine a light on good things. Thank you to everyone who sends Group Project ideas, which I want to do even more of next year. Thank you even to everyone who subscribes and then never opens a single email, because the number still goes up, you know?<\/p>\n

There\u2019s so much out there vying for your time and attention, and one of the things I hope to do here is be a source of stuff worthy of them both. I have lots of ideas for how to do that even better next year, but please know that none of it works without you. I hope you all have a lovely holiday season, get some rest, and come ready to rock in 2026.<\/p>\n

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