My Favorites of 2025

Originally published

Longtime readers (or anyone who scrolls the archive) will be puzzled by this statement: It’s time for the 18th installment of my favorites of the year. But I just counted, and it’s true.

And like last year, I’m going to start by looking back at what I wrote 10 years ago: my favorites of 2015.

Favorites of 2015, a Review

2015, aside from turning 30, is sandwiched in between two pretty big years for me. 2014 is when I got engaged and started my last full time job (and likely my last ever web development job). 2016 is when I got married and started How I Built It, which would become Streamlined Solopreneur. Personally, it was fairly low-key.

But it’s big for another reason: I switched to the iPhone, and I haven’t looked back…though I did try a foldable Android phone this year.

Surprisingly, that was the only time I’ve picked the iPhone as my favorite gadget of the year. It’s gotten much better over the 10 years — but I usually go for impact over “best” or “most used”.

My favorite app — or more accurately, software — was Handoff. This is the technology that allows you to seamlessly switch between Apple devices, and a big reason I switched to the iPhone.

For media, Criminal was my favorite podcast! I can’t remember the last true crime podcast I listened to. I now opt for history, politics, and tech.

A Star Wars movie came out that year — the first in 20 years — so that was an obvious pick. Ah…a time full of optimism, before they decided to make 3 discrete movies and try to tell us it was a planned trilogy.

Anyway, let’s get onto my favorites of 2025.

Book: Fahrenheit 182 by Mark Hoppus

blink-182 has been my favorite band since 1998, and getting a first-hand look from their only forever member is pretty incredible.

I enjoyed learning about what we didn’t get to see on stage or in albums or interviews. I also liked learning that he’s the reason we caught Saddam Hussein.

What struck me the most was how weird it was reading in a memoir about things I lived through and remember vividly. I’ve only really read biographies of people who lived before me (or lived most of their lives before I have actual memories).

This was different. He’d talk about something, and I could fully picture where I was at that moment.

Runner up: Without Fahrenheit 182, The Anxious Generation would have won by a landslide. It’s had a profound effect my my views on social media and my approach to tech with my kids. I think it’s a must-read for all parents.

Honorable Mention: Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman, Tiny Experiments by Anne-Laure Le Chunff, and Listening to the Law by Amy Coney Barrett.

TV Show: Alex vs. A-Rod, HBO Max

I finally got around to watching Andor, though I still need to finish it. That was a pretty clear winner most of the year.

Then Alex vs. A-Rod came out.

I’ve always felt that Alex Rodriguez, for all of his demons, got a raw deal in baseball. I mean…he was 4 home runs away from 700!

This documentary drove that point home for me. It’s easy to demonize someone who’s making a ton of money to play a game. But he’s a human and he has his insecurities and struggles.

Continuing the trend from my favorite book of the year, it’s also a documentary about something that happened fully in my lifetime.

Is this what happens when you turn 40?

Honorable Mention: Andor on Disney+, The SNL50 Documentary on Peacock.

Podcast: The Rest is History

I, along with many, many other people, have discovered The Rest is History and it’s a masterpiece. Incredible storytelling, deeply researched historical events, and such a natural approach to conversation that you can’t really tell it’s highly choreographed.

I love the way they approach series, and how they make it timeless; my wife and I listened to the Gettysburg series during our trip to Gettysburg in February, which was a blast.

If you’re at all into history — or if you’re looking for a deeper perspective on current events — I highly recommend this show.

Honorable Mention: Central Air by Josh Barro, Megan McArdle and Ben Dreyfuss, How We Made Your Mother by Josh Radnor and Craig Thomas.

Music: Sad by Mayday Parade

I switched to Spotify sometime this year, so my Wrapped is not complete, but it’s accurate enough to show my favorite album of the year is Sad by Mayday Parade. It came out the same day as Life of a Showgirl by Taylor Swift, but I gravitated to Sad more.

I really like sad music.

There are a handful of songs I really love on it, like It’s Not All Bad and I Miss the 90s.

A perfect pop punk album for the elder millennial.

Honorable Mention: KPop Demon Hunters, The Father of Make Believe, Coheed and Cambria

Movie: Wicked: For Good

I’m going to be honest: KPop Demon Hunters very nearly got this. It was such a fun movie and I’ve had the soundtrack stuck in my head for half the year.

But I also forgot I didn’t give Wicked the nod last year because Deadpool and Wolverine also came out (man, 2024 feels SO long ago).

All together, Wicked parts 1 and 2 clock in at nearly 5 hours of movie, and they are nearly 5 hours well-spent. They are fun, engaging, and in my opinion, the stuff they add to pad the runtime doesn’t feel superfluous.

Honorable Mention: The aforementioned KPop Demon Hunters, and if we’re counting movies I wanted to see but didn’t, Sinners, The Naked Gun, and Zootopia 2.

Video Game: Hogwarts: Legacy

I didn’t play that many traditional video games this year, but this one was deeply discounted over the summer so I decided to pick it up.

The story is pretty fun and since it’s an open-world exploration game, I could pick it up and play it whenever I wanted, for however long I could.

I still haven’t beaten it, but maybe I’ll do that over Christmas Break.

Honorable Mention: Not much here. Does Flashback by NYTimes count?

Gadget: Stelo Over the Counter Continuous Glucose Monitor (CGM)

Since being diagnosed with Type 2 Diabetes in 2021, I’ve been up and down with my consistency for managing the disease. After seeing a worrying upward trend in my A1C (basically the 3 month average for your blood sugar), my doctor and I discussed options. I expressed a desire to not go on more medication, so he recommended I try a CGM.

It’s worked like gangbusters. Seeing how food affects me helps me manage it better, plus it keeps me accountable. Knowing where my blood sugar currently is helps me make better decisions.

Here’s a breakdown of the numbers. A good A1C for a non-diabetic is between 5.2 – 5.7. Between 5.7 and 6.4 is pre-diabetic, and 6.5+ is diabetic.

At diagnosis in May 2021, my A1C was 11.7 (this is very bad).

I managed to get it back down to 5.4 using only dietary changes and Metformin, a common medication which appears to be the first line of defense. My doctor actually cut my dosage in half after this.

However, by May 2025, I was back up at 9, which is also bad. Since getting the CGM, it’s come back down to 5.7. No increase or additional medication needed.

I don’t think it’s an exaggeration to say this is a life-changing device for me.

Honorable Mention: I got a lot of gear this year. I love my new Apple Watch Ultra 3, my OBSBOT Tail 2, and the TRMNL. Honestly, I should probably do a separate post with just my favorite tech.

App: Tella.TV

This isn’t even close. Tella has transformed my workflow more than any other tool this year.

And beyond that, it’s helped me land more clients, more sponsors, and deliver better for them.

I’ve described Tella as, “Loom if it was built in 2024.” It makes recording and editing talking head videos and screencasts so easy. And they’ve added a slew of features and improvements this year, including transcript-based editing.

That coupled with Ecamm Live‘s virtual camera has improved my production quality while simultaneously making videos 10x easier to produce.

The Re-Return: Spotify

I’ve decided to add 2 new categories under apps this year. The first one is “the re-return,” where I go back to an app I had used, but moved away from.

There’s really not much to say here. Spotify is better than Apple Music in nearly every conceivable way…especially now that they offer Lossless music.

Honorable Mention: Bear Notes

Because there wasn’t much to say about Spotify, I also wanted to mention Bear Notes.

Last year I made a decision to use more of Apple’s native apps. I tried using Apple Notes for a solid year, and it’s a great note-taking app; I still use it to share notes with my wife and other family members. But I found myself missing one feature deeply: markdown support.

Bear Notes has great markdown support, lots of customization options, and is just as beautiful. It’s only missing the sharing aspect…but I can live with 2 separate apps for that.

The Switch: Google Drive

The other category I’ve added this year is called, “The Switch.” Earlier this year I released a podcast episode When is it Time to Switch Tools?

In it, I outline how to determine if switching tools is worth it, and used my switch from Dropbox to Google Drive as an example.

I’m 6 months into that switch and I’m very pleased I made it. I don’t miss Dropbox, and managing my files, because of who I work with and how I work, has gotten a lot easier.

Plus, now I’m saving at minimum $120 per year.

I switched a lot of tools this year (Spotify and Bear Notes can qualify, as I returned to it), but Google Drive has had both the biggest impact and the most positive gains.

Enrichment: Leaving Social Media

Usually hard or forced each year, this was a pretty easy call when I thought about it. I almost went with Listening to the Law by Amy Coney Barrett, as I really enjoyed her easy to understand walkthrough of the history of US law, and insight into her jurisprudence, as well as what Originalism is.

But the truth is I made a monumental shift in how I interact online this year. About a year ago, I left Twitter/X for good. Then TikTok, Threads, Instagram, and Facebook followed. The only social media accounts I still have are on LinkedIn, Mastodon (which I don’t use at all), and Bluesky, which I barely count because it’s not algorithmically driven.

I also deleted all social apps from my phone.

The positive impact was immediate. I’m no longer endlessly scrolling on my phone, I’m not getting annoyed at dumb posts, and I’m not engaging in stupid arguments that don’t matter.

Beyond that, one of the biggest myths I told myself about leaving social media proved wildly false: that I needed it for my business.

In fact, this was my best year in business ever. I was able to invest time I was wasting on social media into my YouTube channel and podcast. Clients found me via recommendation, search, and LLMs.

I’m really looking forward to even bigger gains without social media in 2026.

That’s a Wrap on 2025!

I always end these posts by saying what I hope to do in the next year. Last year it was:

  1. Watch more TV shows (which I guess technically I did)
  2. See more movies in the theaters (which I decidedly did not do)

In 2026, I hope to do these things:

  • Read more books about real world stuff
  • Continue to stay off social media

The latter will require me to figure out other ways to get discovered. I’m finding YouTube to be a good bet there. But I’m also starting something completely new on Substack.

What were your favorites in 2025? Leave a comment and let me know!