Hi, friends! Welcome to Installer No. 110, your guide to the best and Verge-iest stuff in the world. (If you’re new here, welcome, happy holidays, and also you can read all the old editions at the Installer homepage.)
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 — this is your holiday season, and probably your 2026, totally sorted. Let’s get into it.
(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: [email protected]. And if you know someone else who might enjoy Installer, forward it to them and tell them to subscribe here.)
My favorite stuff of 2025
By my count (and by “my count” I mean a quick search of Google Docs), we published 45 issues of Installer this year. That’s 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’s a top 10, in no particular order:
Enshittification . Cory Doctorow’s 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’s not just me sort of feeling. Cory Doctorow’s 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’s not just me sort of feeling.
The Sony WH-1000XM6 . 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 . 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’s exactly what I got. Life in Mario Kart World is still really good. 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’s exactly what I got. Life in Mario Kart World is still really good.
Claude Code. There’s a lot of crappy AI out there, but there’s simply no question that large language models can write workable code for simple projects. I’ve 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 . 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.
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