At the end of every year I note down a summary of the best applications, hardware & websites I’ve enjoyed & depended on throughout the year (and often for some time before).
This post has long since been superseded. You can find the latest version of this post here.
Software / General Use

Fastmail - https://www.fastmail.com
Evernote - https://evernote.com
Reeder - http://reederapp.com
Keynote - https://www.apple.com/au/mac/keynote
Lastpass - https://lastpass.com
Plex - https://plex.tv
Calibre - http://calibre-ebook.com

Software / Geek Use

Sublime Text - http://www.sublimetext.com/3
Homebrew - http://brew.sh
DropSync - http://mudflatsoftware.com
Beets - http://beets.radbox.org
Textual - http://www.codeux.com/textual
XLD - http://tmkk.undo.jp/xld/index_e.html
Code Academy - http://www.codecademy.com
Exercism.io - http://exercism.io
Sickbeard + Headphones + Couchpotato + Sabnzbd - http://www.totalhtpc.com/ultimate-usenet-guide.html

Software / Mobile

Tweetbot - http://tapbots.com/software/tweetbot
Pushover - http://pushover.net
Lastpass - https://lastpass.com
Keynote - https://www.apple.com/au/ios/keynote
Reeder - http://reederapp.com/ios
Evernote- https://evernote.com
Plex - https://plex.tv
Backblaze - https://www.backblaze.com
WTF Podcast - http://www.wtfpod.com/app
MiniHack - https://itunes.apple.com/au/app/minihack-for-hacker-news/id631108846?mt=8
Uber - https://itunes.apple.com/au/app/uber/id368677368?mt=8
Goodreads - https://itunes.apple.com/au/app/goodreads-book-recommendations/id355833469?mt=8
Notify4M - https://itunes.apple.com/au/app/notify4m/id499161979?mt=8
Bandcamp - https://itunes.apple.com/au/app/bandcamp/id706408639?mt=8
Hype Machine - https://itunes.apple.com/au/app/hype-machine/id414315986?mt=8
Nuzzel (Only got onto this today) - https://itunes.apple.com/au/app/nuzzel-news-from-your-friends/id692285770?mt=8
Alien Blue - http://www.reddit.com/r/alienblue

Software / SysAdmin or DevOps Specific

Gitlab - http://gitlab.org
Gitlab-CI - https://about.gitlab.com/gitlab-ci
Dash - http://kapeli.com/dash
PostgreSQL (Makes my list every year & just keeps getting better) - http://www.postgresql.org
PGBadger - http://dalibo.github.io/pgbadger
Docker - https://www.docker.com
Consul - https://consul.io
Puppet (I couldn’t do my job as well without it) - http://puppetlabs.com
iTerm - http://iterm2.com
Nginx - http://nginx.org
Htop - http://hisham.hm/htop
Bonnie++ - http://linux.die.net/man/8/bonnie++
Openfire - https://www.igniterealtime.org/projects/openfire
Hiera-Eyaml - https://github.com/TomPoulton/hiera-eyaml
Rubinius - http://rubini.us
Puma - http://puma.io
XenServer - http://xenserver.org
ElasticSearch - www.elasticsearch.org
Logstash - http://logstash.net
FPM - https://github.com/jordansissel/fpm
PFsense - https://www.pfsense.org
Debian Jessie (Not quite released but the next great version of the best linux Distro IMO) - https://www.debian.org/releases/jessie
Check_MK Multisite - https://mathias-kettner.de/checkmk_multisite.html
PWSafe - https://itunes.apple.com/au/app/pwsafe-password-safe-compatible/id520993579?mt=12
Supervisord - http://supervisord.org

Websites

Last.fm - http://www.last.fm/user/sammcj2000
Feedly - https://feedly.com
HackerNews - https://news.ycombinator.com/news
Lucidchart - http://lucidchart.com/
MondoTunes (Might be a little biased here!) - http://mondotunes.org

Hardware

Das Ultimate 4- http://www.daskeyboard.com
Logitech Performance MX - http://www.logitech.com/en-au/product/performance-mouse-mx
15’’ Macbook Pro Retina - http://www.apple.com/au/macbook-pro
iPhone 6+ (because its bigger than bigger, or something) - https://www.apple.com/iphone-6
CuBox - http://www.solid-run.com/product/cubox-i4pro
Parani SD1000 Bluetooth Serial Adapter - http://www.senaindustrial.com/products/industrial_bluetooth/sd1000.php
SanDisk Extreme Pro 480GB SSD - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820171999

Other / Non-tech

All Day Socks - http://alldaysocks.com
Sennheiser Amperior On-Ear Headphones - http://www.head-fi.org/products/sennheiser-amperior-on-ear-headphones
O2 + ODAC - http://www.jdslabs.com/products/48/o2-odac-combo
Benchmark DAC1 HDR - http://benchmarkmedia.com/products/benchmark-dac1-hdr-digital-to-analog-converter
Bellroy Wallets - http://bellroy.com
Ink Shoes - http://www.inkshoes.it
Kindle Paperwhite - http://www.amazon.com.au/gp/feature.html?docId=3077740006
Nerf Jolt - http://nerf.wikia.com/wiki/Jolt_EX-1

Books

The Phoenix Project (Reread this year for the 3rd time) - http://itrevolution.com/books/phoenix-project-DevOps-book
Surely You’re Joking Mr Feynman! - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/5544.Surely_You_re_Joking_Mr_Feynman_
The Dark Tower Series - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/43615.The_Gunslinger
Snow Crash - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/830.Snow_Crash

Sam McLeod

A personal annual roundup from 2014 covering the author's favorite software, hardware, and websites across categories including general use, mobile apps, SysAdmin/DevOps tools, and non-tech items. DevOps highlights include GitLab, Docker, PostgreSQL, Puppet, Nginx, Elasticsearch, and Logstash. Hardware picks include a MacBook Pro Retina, iPhone 6+, and SSD. Books include The Phoenix Project and Snow Crash.

The Best Of - 2014 Edition