While AI continues to be the main character in the innovation conversation (and a magnet for VC cash), the honeymoon of everyone asking ChatGPT to write clever poems is over. Though AI bots linked up with many legacy tools this year, from Google Search to Slack, there were fewer mind-blowing product reveals in 2024, with some companies saying the pace at which AI gains sophistication might be slowing down.

But progress never sleeps, and plenty of funky gadgets, novel medical treatments, and concepts devised by people with PhDs in abstract subjects burst onto the scene this year.

Inventions and innovations

Whether it’s a computer you wear on your face or a more sustainable material for clothes, these products are expanding humanity’s toolkit:

• Time Magazine’s 200 Best Inventions of 2024, from an eco-friendly shower filter to lab-grown cotton.
• Popular Science presents the year’s 50 greatest innovations.
• Fast Company highlights the most impactful corporate innovations.
• The most innovative tech products, according to Digital Trends.
• The eight coolest inventions from this year’s Consumer Electronics Show, chosen by Smithsonian Magazine.

Apps of the year

Find out about some new apps that are out there in addition to the usual sources of endless scrolling:

• Apple’s App Store Award winners
• Google Play’s best apps and games of 2024
• MacStories chooses the best apps of the year

Science and tech milestones

These might not be hot new items you can snag at Best Buy, but it is the scientific know-how pushing human progress forward:

• Five recent medical breakthroughs explained by science writer Saloni Dattani.
• The biggest scientific breakthroughs of the year, according to the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
• NASA looked back at its accomplishments in 2024.
• Here are achievements that mathematicians and physicists are patting themselves on the back for.

Companies pushing the envelope

It’s not just the OpenAIs, SpaceXs, and Waymos of the world pushing the envelope with new ideas—but also upstarts that are staying out of the spotlight and some legacy industry giants.

• The startups with the fastest growing search interest.
• Top VCs choose the 85 most promising startups.
• The most innovative companies, per Fast Company.

—SK

This year may be more memorable for what failed than what succeeded: It brought us Joker: Folie à Deux and Argylle, after all. But, aside from blockbuster mockery, we were blessed with essential reads, summer bops, and no shortage of cultural touchstones that will stimulate heated discussion over the holidays. Indulge yourself.

Music

The pop girl trio of Sabrina Carpenter, Charli XCX, and Chappell Roan monopolized most music discussion this year, but don’t forget about new stars like Clairo, MJ Lenderman, and Kali Uchis who had a banner 2024.

• Pitchfork’s 50 Best Albums of the year
• NPR’s 124 Best Songs
• Vulture’s Best Songs
• The New York Times’s Best Songs
• The Guardian’s Best Jazz and Best Folk Albums

Books

For people with a London Review of Books tote bag, these lists are the true meaning of Christmas:

• NPR’s Books We Love
• The New Yorker’s Best Books
• Goodreads Choice Awards
• New York Times’s 10 Best Books

TV

Shogun, English Teacher, and Somebody Somewhere dominated this year the way that Succession used to.

• The New York Times’s Best TV Shows
• AV Club’s Top 25
• Mashable’s Top 21
• Rolling Stone’s Top 10

Movies

Hollywood hoped Glicked might save the box office, but it was a slate of masterful indie films that stole people’s hearts this year, such as Janet Planet and All We Imagine As Light.

• The New York Times’s Best Movies
• The Rotten Tomatoes Awards Leaderboard
• The Washington Post’s Top 10
• Variety’s Worst 10
• IGN’s Top 10 Sci-Fi/Fantasy

Podcasts

Yes, Call Her Daddy and The Joe Rogan Experience took top spots on Spotify and Apple Podcasts this year. But elsewhere, Ripple and Noble struck a chord with their listeners.

• Lifehacker’s 10 Best True Crime Podcasts
• Vulture’s Best Podcasts
• Esquire’s 26 Best Podcasts
• The New Yorker’s Top 10
• Time Magazine’s Top 10

Video games

There goes one more year of waiting for Nintendogs to make a comeback. In the meantime, Balatro and Astro Bot are here for you.

• Polygon’s 50 Best Video Games
• GameSpot’s Best Reviewed Games
• RTE’s 10 Best Video Games
• The Washington Post’s Top 10 Video Games

—CC

People left X for BlueSky (which is not pronounced Blueskee, sadly) and rocketed the alternative to Elon Musk’s platform to the top of the Apple App Store in November. Social media CEOs testified before Congress in January over concerns that their platforms were hurting children. As for the TikTok ban…check back with us in 2025.

But here are the highlights from stuff posted on social media in 2024 that those who aren’t terminally online may have missed.

Go down Meme-ory Lane

From the Dune popcorn bucket to Hawk Tuah to the Paris Olympics pistol shooters, it was a heck of a year for memes. There’s some overlap on these lists, but there’s nothing wrong with seeing multiple Raygun jokes:

• Rolling Stone’s 29 best memes and viral moments
• USA Today’s 10 favorites
• Boston University curated 24 funny memes.
• Complex kept the list to 15.

The best of TikTok

TIkTok’s year-end wrap included a rich tapestry of creators who set the trends of 2024:

• Moo Deng took the world by storm.
• Jools LeBron had everyone saying “very demure, very mindful.”
• Logan Moffit sparked a trend so popular that it created a cucumber shortage.

The year of The Rizzler

No online phenomenon was harder to explain to your offline friends than The Rizzler. He hangs out with the Costco Guys. He rubs his chin. He raps. There’s tension between him and Jimmy Fallon. Oh, and he’s eight years old.

Here’s just a small sample of the joy he brought to the internet:

• The video from 2023 that made him famous.
• He spit bars for the Christmas season.
• He appeared on The Tonight Show.
• Finally, here’s his entire TikTok catalog.

And because sometimes the worst is the best, consider voting in Jeremiah Johnson’s Worst Tweets of 2024 Bracket.—DL

By now, you’ve seen a lot of recs, but this next batch is extra special. We asked the members of the Brew newsletter team what they enjoyed this year. Here’s what everybody said.

Music

• “I went to a Quebecois wedding near Montreal and they played retro European hits. I’ve been jamming to the disco ‘Spacer’ by Sheila and the like.”—NF
• “When times are tough, take solace in knowing that Jon Batiste, Trombone Shorty, and Celisse joined Mumford & Sons at New Orleans Jazz Fest to perform this transcendent rendition of ‘House of the Rising Sun.’”—AE

Film and television

• “Janet Planet. Here’s the thing about this movie: When I first saw it, I thought to myself, ‘Eh, that was fine.’ But two weeks later, I couldn’t stop raving about it. Now, I consider it one of my favorite movies of all time.”—CC
• “Senna, the new Netflix miniseries about Ayrton Senna. If you’re not an F1 fan, the show provides helpful context with on-screen IDs (which may annoy diehards), but even with lots of very good effects and details, it’s Gabriel Leone’s portrayal that will probably stay with you.”—HVL
• “Because I’m a normal person who doesn’t have a Peacock subscription, I discovered the goofy pleasures of Girls5Eva through its third season, released on Netflix this year. The unforgettable jam that is ‘New York Lonely Boy’ alone makes the series worth watching.”—AR
• “The undeservedly overlooked British series Peep Show for anyone who thinks there’s nothing more hilarious than mediocre characters marinating in their own misery.”—SK

Books

• “The Bright Sword by Lev Grossman is a sideways take on Arthurian legend from the point of view of a character who probably isn’t even supposed to be there.”—AR
• “The Last Samurai by Helen DeWitt.”—NF
• “A Canticle for Leibowitz was published in 1959, but I just got around to reading this mythic and surprisingly funny post-apocalyptic tale about monks in the middle of the desert trying to preserve the last vestiges of scientific knowledge.”—AE
• “This Strange Eventful History. I finished this book on the subway and I was so shook that I missed all of the stops and ended up an hour in the wrong direction. I’ve thought about it every day since.”—CC
• “Orhan Pamuk’s poignant ode to his hometown, Istanbul: Memories of a City, was an excellent travel companion on my trip to the ancient metropolis.”—SK

Short-form media

• “I have no interest in climbing mountains nor am I a dad. But Rusty Foster’s Today on Trail newsletter chronicling his hiking trip with his son is so beautiful. My favorite was this essay from June about suffering, which I know sounds dramatic but it’s a sweet, funny little essay that will probably make you tear up.”—MM
• “An iconic and hilarious music video for Dehd’s song ‘Mood Ring’ full of Chicago legends.”—MM
• “This article from the Washington Post about an alleged cocaine trafficker who used his ill-gotten wealth to fulfill his dream of being a (mediocre) professional soccer player deserves to fuel your next true crime obsession.”—AR
• “The Michael Singer Podcast, which is more a series of informal talks than a traditional podcast. Singer is a self-described ‘old hippie’ and also the founder of a multibillion-dollar medical software company. Somewhere in between the two, he seems to have found a lot of good ideas about being human.”—HVL
• “Marty Miller and Missy McIntosh's post-shift TikToks. Completely making me feel happy and laughter for all of the time.”—ML
• “The Cut article about the financial-advice columnist who fell for a $50,000 scam, and specifically this comment from ‘mr__piss.’”—ML

Nothing here inspiring you? Consider trying what Dave Lozo enjoyed this year: “Eating healthier and lying to people about my diet.”