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The best things and stuff of 2025
- dang 10mo agoRelated. Others? (and how did we miss 2023, 2018, and 2016?) Fogus: Things and Stuff of 2024 - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42495077 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42495077 - Dec 2024 (44 comments) The best things and stuff of 2022 - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33969300 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33969300 - Dec 2022 (47 comments) The Best Things and Stuff of 2021 - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29702698 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29702698 - Dec 2021 (23 comments) The best things and stuff of 2020 - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25593828 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25593828 - Dec 2020 (37 comments) Things and Stuff of 2019 - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21932647 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21932647 - Jan 2020 (11 comments) Great things and people that I discovered, learned, read, met, etc in 2017 - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16075626 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16075626 - Jan 2018 (24 comments) Best things and stuff of 2015 - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10807501 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10807501 - Dec 2015 (85 comments) The best things and stuff of 2014 - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8809710 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8809710 - Dec 2014 (26 comments) The best things and stuff of 2013 - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6971351 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6971351 - Dec 2013 (29 comments) The best things and stuff of 2012 - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4969569 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4969569 - Dec 2012 (13 comments) The best things and stuff of 2011 by Fogus - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3410990 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3410990 - Dec 2011 (20 comments)
- ktallett 10mo agoThanks for this! Some of these are really interesting. The Dream Factory was a great book this year on Shakespeare.
- flobosg 10mo agoI’m intrigued by that Japanese calendar stamp. Does anyone know where to get it?
- fogus 10mo agoI got mine in Japan at a store called Loft, but I suspect that you’d have to pay a substantial mark up to get the same thing elsewhere.
- fogus 10mo agoIf you do a search for Shimaenaga Weekly Calendar then you’ll find something that’s very similar and may be able to similar ones that work better for you.
- tekacs 10mo agoJetPens in the US has a variety such. Not quite the one here, though. https://www.jetpens.com/search?q=stamp&v=2 https://www.jetpens.com/search?q=stamp&v=2 https://www.jetpens.com/Midori-Paintable-Stamp-Pre-Inked-Plan/pd/30724 https://www.jetpens.com/Midori-Paintable-Stamp-Pre-Inked-Pla... https://www.jetpens.com/Nombre-Mizushima-Stamp-Schedule-Week/pd/27607 https://www.jetpens.com/Nombre-Mizushima-Stamp-Schedule-Week... https://www.jetpens.com/Shachihata-Daily-Log-Stamp-Weather-and-Days-of-the-Week/pd/40823 https://www.jetpens.com/Shachihata-Daily-Log-Stamp-Weather-a...
- evan_ 10mo agoyou could get one made for a few bucks.
- flobosg 10mo agoFound it here: https://shopfivenine.com/products/rubber-stamp-week https://shopfivenine.com/products/rubber-stamp-week
- tptacek 10mo agoDeath & Vanilla sounds more like Portishead to me than Dead Can Dance, but solid either way, and thanks. I had a similar musical year, except switch the Cocteaus with Stereolab (helps that they released their best album in decades this year).
- wintermutestwin 10mo agoI am befuddled. How do are you hearing Portishead (and DCD is even more bizarre)? I hear a touch of Beach House on older releases when there are vocals. But yeah, agree that it is a good addition to my library. Stereolab still hasn’t clicked for me, but I’ll give it another try. Along these lines, Yndling was my cool find this year
- tptacek 10mo agoHey, it's the original article that compares it to Dead Can Dance. On the plus side, that suggestion did get me to put DCD on while me and my kids played Fishspan last night. They wanted to know why I was playing "spooky dungeon music" and kept saying things like "oh we just got to the desert level boss fight" when new tracks started playing.
- flobosg 10mo agoThen it’s time to show them some dungeon synth! https://youtu.be/M9HLrbRCq2U https://youtu.be/M9HLrbRCq2U
- sherl0ck 10mo agoI found my love back in the Cure, 2025 kind of bit like the Cure, sad but happy at the same times
- fnord77 10mo agoheh, google calculator gets it wrong https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-1-d&q=%2810%5E100%29%2B1-%28100%5E100%29 https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-1-d&q=%2810%5...
- 3eb7988a1663 10mo agoThis feels like it needs its own post. Just had to check my goto, Qalculate, which similarly gives -10^200
- abbeyj 10mo agoYou have a typo in there. You want https://www.google.com/search?q=%2810%5E100%29%2B1-%2810%5E100%29 https://www.google.com/search?q=%2810%5E100%29%2B1-%2810%5E1... . Google also gets the "wrong answer" for this expression, 0 instead of 1.
- bobek 10mo agoInteresting, my favorite one on Android - HiPER Calc - does it correctly and returns 1.
- shaunxcode 10mo agoI really like the aesthetic! I also enjoyed the content.
- msuniverse2026 10mo agoWorst things and Stuff of 2025: The Legend of the Galactic Heroes themed cafe in Tokyo closed down the month before I visited for the first time.
- s5300 10mo ago[dead]
- drekipus 10mo agoI think it was the year before last, I found a new band that's been rocking my socks off: Uranium Club. (I am a big fan of egg punk and a true devo-tee) Last year they came to Australia, which I didn't know about, and it's the first time I've ever felt like I missed out on a musical event. Then they released a new album this year, " infants under the bulb" which has been growing on me. I also started Warhammer this year, and one of my frigates is driven by a small grey man
- charlescohen 10mo ago[dead]
- randycupertino 10mo agoThe best thing for me for 2025 is a Costco heated blanket. It is so soft and cozy and rocks my world. We love it so much we got one for my partner, my mother in law and my mom and they all love it. Highly, HIGHLY recommend. https://www.costco.com/p/-/berkshire-life-heated-throw/4000178658 https://www.costco.com/p/-/berkshire-life-heated-throw/40001... I was very skeptical until my partner plugged it in, turned it on and put it on me and was like holy cow this is amazing. My best book of 2025 was Dungeon Crawler Carl, the entire serious.
- iancmceachern 10mo agoAlso checkout the Milwaukee heated hoodies!
- snohobro 10mo agoI second Dungeon Crawler Carl. I haven’t been this enthralled with a book series in decades. If you’re looking for a new series, I highly recommend it!
- randycupertino 10mo agoI was skeptical on Dungeon Crawler Carl and resisted reading it for so long and finally people on reddit constantly recommending it wore me down, even though it's not typically a genre I like I gave it a try and am SO GLAD I did, it is fantastic! I love how it looks like dumb, chaotic fun on the surface but the undercurrent and story steadily reveals something much smarter, angrier and emotionally brutal about resistance and survival in an oppressive system. It's a great series!!
- ChadNauseam 10mo agoIf you liked dungeon crawler carl, and like dungeons and dragons (or just like the idea of it), I can highly recommend “worth the candle”. It has a surface level similarity as well as some thematic overlap with dungeon crawler carl. it’s one of the most interesting books I’ve read in a long time.
- apparent 10mo ago
- deleted 10mo ago[deleted]
- ChadNauseam 10mo agoWow, I’m honored! When I wrote that calculator post, I really only thought two or three people would ever read it haha. I never would have dreamed that so many people would be interested in it Also, that video is really making me want to get an OP-1 haha.
- someguyiguess 10mo agoCongrats! And thanks for taking the time to write it
- mft_ 10mo ago> Also, that video is really making me want to get an OP-1 haha. From experience, I get you. There are many videos on the internet that do the same. I bought one and found it... a little constraining for my taste. My observation was that most of the music creation was 'live' (i.e. you had to play something perfectly, to time, and record that) and for what is fundamentally a computer, it has very limited 'sequencing' ability. Also, a lot of the cutesy interface ideas that are so charming on someone else's video grate over time. Luckily I bought mine second-hand and the residuals on these things are insane, so I made a marginal profit reselling it. All I'd say is that before pulling the trigger, do some research (YouTube reviews especially) on the term "groove box" - there are many, that come with different abilities, strengths, and weaknesses. The OP-1 is cool but limited, and comes with the Teenage Engineering price tag.
- rjh29 10mo agoThe OP-Z makes sequencing the main focus (rather than OP-1's tape mechanism) and is really fun, and still cheap because it didn't go viral. Then there's the OP-XY which is even more powerful but unfortunately costs like 4-5x as much so I've not tried it.
- mft_ 10mo agoYes, totally agree... and of course you (I) wonder what else there might be (as the OP-Z isn't reviewed super-well, is maybe a bit restricted, and doesn't have the awesome LED buttons of some of its competition) and you get into researching the Deluge, the Syntakt (with a stop-off via the Digitakt if sampling is more your thing), the Circuit Tracks, the Polyend Play, the MC-101, the Seqtrak...
- bookofjoe 10mo agoReading glasses that fold up and fit on a keychain, for when you forgot yours: https://www.thinoptics.com/products/readers-black-keychain-case?variant=44502614442018 https://www.thinoptics.com/products/readers-black-keychain-c...
- hermitcrab 10mo agoHis coloured task planning system reminds me of https://www.hyperplan.com https://www.hyperplan.com .
- teraflop 10mo agoThat 1956 article on the long-distance telephone network is fascinating reading. The chart on page 24 gives the very first division of the US phone into area codes, many of which have of course remained unchanged today. From page 82, when discussing automated in-band signaling on the phone lines: > The signal component is a band about 100 cycles [Hz] wide centering on the signal frequency [2600 Hz]. [...] In the talking condition (tone off in both directions) the guard detector sensitivity is such that almost a pure tone is required to operate the receiver since other than signal frequencies will produce a voltage opposing its operation. The guard feature prevents false operation of the receiver from speech signals. Of course in hindsight, the flaw in this is obvious. The guard band prevents accidental triggering of the signal mechanism by ordinary speech. It does nothing to stop someone from intentionally playing a pure 2600 Hz tone into the telephone handset, using e.g. a whistle from a cereal box.
- fogus 10mo agoI completely forgot to bring up the 2600 section in my post! Reading distance dialing led me down a deep rabbit hole. An interesting path was learning more about Joe Engressia (Joybubbles) who could whistle a 2600hz tone to circumvent the supervisory tone which led him to learn more about the system and further the knowledge of the early phreaking community. Folklore around him was off the charts and eventually painted a picture of a superhero who could whistle his way through the whole phone network and into free calls to anywhere just with his mouth. The document linked in my post gives details about the long-distance signalling and why being a great whistler was not good enough. That said, definitely check out more about Engressia, because while the whistling wasn't superhuman, the curiousity and drive to learn more may have been!
- plapsley 10mo agoHey Fogus! A few links or resources you might enjoy: * Nationwide Operator Toll Dialing, 1945: https://explodingthephone.com/hoppdocs/nootd1945.pdf https://explodingthephone.com/hoppdocs/nootd1945.pdf * General Switching Plan for Telephone Toll Service, 1930: https://explodingthephone.com/hoppdocs/gspts1930.pdf https://explodingthephone.com/hoppdocs/gspts1930.pdf * (Book) Engineering and Operations in the Bell System, 1984: https://bitsavers.org/communications/westernElectric/books/Engineering_and_Operations_in_the_Bell_System_2ed_1984.pdf https://bitsavers.org/communications/westernElectric/books/E... * (Shameless plug) My book on the history of phone phreaking, Exploding the Phone, which has a lot of stuff on Engressia in it: https://explodingthephone.com/ https://explodingthephone.com/ Also, there is a documentary film coming up at Sundance about Engressia! https://festival.sundance.org/program/film/6932fad21a5535277891b127 https://festival.sundance.org/program/film/6932fad21a5535277... Very excited to see it!
- rus20376 10mo agoThis is fun to read, but from my personal perspective it all seems quite depressing. About half way through this list of stuff I start to think existentially: would I be happy if my life was constructed like the author’s? I like much of the same sort of stuff after all. But at some point I got bored with reading yet another cool random book or fiddling with an interpreter for a little toy language. I wonder, does the author really find deep life satisfaction in all this? Presumably the answer is yes, but that doesn’t match my intuition which intrigues me somewhat. Is the satisfaction gained, at least in part, from the performance of making this sort of list and getting external approval from HN, conference audiences, etc? Is the production of this list and the stated desire to speak at conferences a statement that all the journaled activity is not enough, that it cannot be done privately? That if done privately, anonymously, it really is just not that great a way to live your life? I am happy that I don’t live alone diving so deep into various hobbies that I ultimately start hitting the firmament underneath. What my life would look like had I not gotten married and had children is not so hard to imagine when I read these sorts of blogs, and I smugly think I am better off.
- pjm331 10mo agoDifferent people like different things
- fogus 10mo agoThat’s a lot of words to pass judgment on someone you’ve never met and know nothing about. The strawman that you’ve created doesn’t resemble my life at all, but you go on feeling smug about being better than the construct in your head. Whatever helps you to sleep at night I guess…
- anthonypasq96 10mo agoyou sound insecure. that guy was making a thoughtful self-reflective observation and it seems like he hit a nerve.
- alwa 10mo ago
- evanjrowley 10mo ago>"A calculator app? Anyone could make that"[0] Shameless plug: my favorite calculator "app" is wxMaxima. It uses similar techniques[1] as those described in the fantastic article at the top of this 2025 list. Implemented in Lisp[2]. [0] https://chadnauseam.com/coding/random/calculator-app https://chadnauseam.com/coding/random/calculator-app [1] https://feb.kuleuven.be/public/u0003131/WBT23/wxMaxima/wxM_intro/numer_float_bfloat.html https://feb.kuleuven.be/public/u0003131/WBT23/wxMaxima/wxM_i... [2] https://maxima.sourceforge.io/lisp.html https://maxima.sourceforge.io/lisp.html
- iandanforth 10mo agoPages like this are why I love Firefox reader mode. It doesn't matter what font crimes the author commits, with a single click it becomes legible again! Good content should never be missed because of an author trying to stab you in the eyeballs.
- wintermutestwin 10mo agoAgreed. I just wish it could fix these crappy fixed width layouts.
- bigstrat2003 10mo agoHonestly I don't even try to read pages that have some super narrow 400px layout any more. Time was I would screw around editing the CSS with dev tools, but I just don't have the patience these days. It's a lot of work to try to alter the CSS and it's unpleasant as heck to read something that narrow (anything less than 1000px is awful to read and I prefer 1200), so I just move on. Pro tip for web designers out there: if someone wants a narrow layout they can always make their browser window smaller, but if you force it to be narrow that screws over the users who find that unpleasant. A wider layout can thus work for both types of reader, while a narrow layout only works for one.
- tills13 10mo agoMy favorite part about this is how it shows how different people's lives can be even while existing in the same space. I haven't heard of a single thing in this list -- books, music, games, etc.
- WillAdams 10mo agoDavid Lindsay's _A Voyage to Arcturus_ is notable for having been one of the earliest available ebooks on Project Gutenberg, netting a few wider exposure than it might have had otherwise. Highly recommended.
- aljgz 10mo agoLoosely fitting the bill, but: The link between gluten and my 2 decade long bad insomnia, on edge mind, and restlessness. Simply cutting gluten changed many things. Now I sleep so deeply I sometimes need a brief reality check to know what year it is, where I am, and how long I've been asleep. Probably not for everyone, but if you have similar problems, definitely go gluten free for a few days and check the impact.
- twojacobtwo 10mo agoI had never even considered gluten, but I've been dealing with those exact issues for years as well. I'm going to give it a try. Would you say it was actually noticeable in just a few days? Thank you for posting this, btw. I've been feeling pretty hopeless about it and even if it ultimately doesn't work, at least I have a new avenue to try.
- aljgz 10mo agoThe results will kick in gradually. The second time I started, I knew what to look for, so I noticed in 3 days. But the first time, I mostly noticed after breaking the diet: eating my burger and my date's then trying to sleep. My mind wanted to jump to the wall, bounce off it to the ceiling, then the other wall, like a scene from a cartoon. Then I remembered this image from childhood. I had to play beatsaber for half an hour to calm that down. BTW, I'm not a native English speaker, and heard about "bouncing off the walls" after I told my friends about this mental image.
- npodbielski 10mo agoThis is good. I should also blog about stuff that I found interesting. Just to myself as a reminder. I am not active blogger but it actually happen to me that I was looking for something l, used web search and did found my own blog in the results. Also I could just go to my own blog for this 'interesting link/stuff I found few days ago'.
- sbochins 10mo agoI really wish this guy would write a blog post about LLMs. He had a great section about his lack of use of them at the end of this post. Like 90% of my code is now written by LLMs, but this guy is incredibly smart and is working on very challenging problems that require novel solutions. Would love to know more why the tech isn’t good enough and which approaches he’s tried.
- samtheDamned 10mo agoLove to see the Cocteau Twins mentioned as they've been my favorite for the last few years. What an incredible discography!
- AdamWills 10mo ago[dead]
- attila-lendvai 10mo agoPluribus is not worth it, if you wondered.