2024 is almost over, and it has been a year. The tech world has been shaken up a hundred times over, it seems: there was the splashy Vision Pro launch, Google being declared a monopoly, endless AI hype, a hugely consequential US election, the ongoing political ascendance of Elon Musk, and another generation of gadgets trying and failing to replace your smartphone. The industry looks different than it did in January; so does our relationship with technology.
There’s still a month to go, and we’re not remotely ready to declare this year’s tech news dead and gone, but given that it’s a holiday weekend in the US we figured it might be time for a look back. (Hope you had a great Thanksgiving, by the way!)
So on this episode of The Vergecast, we invited a bunch of Verge staffers to come on the show and tell us about some of the most important things of 2024. We talk about the biggest stories of the year, including the ones we’ll definitely be talking about into 2025. We talk about our favorite new tech things from 2024, too, along with our favorite decidedly non-tech things.
Also, we have a favor to ask: for our episode on December 10th, we’re doing a Vergecast all about… The Vergecast! And The Verge. And media in general. And what we’re actually, like, doing here. And we want your questions! Call the Vergecast Hotline — 866-VERGE11 — or email us at vergecast@theverge.com with all your most meta questions, and we’ll get to as many as we can in a couple of weeks.
If you want to know more about everyone’s picks, here are some links to get you started:
- Story of the year: Google is a monopoly
- New thing of the year: Final Fantasy VII Rebirth
- Non-tech thing of the year: XOXO Field Notes notebooks
- Story of the year: All things AI
- New thing of the year: The Wiim Ultra amp
- Non-tech thing of the year: Chronoloy
- Story of the year: The US election, and the rise of nuclear power
- New thing of the year: Nurse Unseen
- Non-tech thing of the year: Sugarcane
- Story of the year: The Apple Vision Pro
- New thing of the year: The Fujifilm X100VI and the Kino app
- Non-tech thing of the year: Mountain Gazette
- Story of the year: Billionaire crybabies
- New thing of the year: Stardew Valley
- Non-tech thing of the year: Curated playlists
- Story of the year: The US election
- New thing of the year: The Elgato Stream Deck
- Non-tech thing of the year: Googly eyes
- Story of the year: The AI rat race
- New thing of the year: Granola
- Non-tech thing of the year: Shochu
- Story of the year: Grand Theft Auto VI and the Nintendo Switch 2, and more industry layoffs
- New thing of the year: The Playstation Portal
- Non-tech thing of the year: Bucephalus the puppy