The Gift of Simtheory: https://simtheory.ai
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2025 Model Timeline: https://simulationtheory.ai/5fd0e964-4c41-4f9a-bbb3-2a398d8500f0
It's the long-anticipated holiday special... except Mike and Kris forgot to prepare so it's just a normal episode. 🎅 This week: Gemini 3 Flash drops and it's actually incredible - cheap, fast, and weirdly smarter than Gemini 3 Pro at tool calling. We put GPT Image 1.5 head-to-head against Nano Banana Pro using hobo photos (spoiler: Google wins again). Plus, FireCrawl Agent is the research tool we've been waiting for, Anthropic launches Skills as an open standard, and we do a full 2025 model timeline recap. Also featuring: Best and Worst Model of the Year awards, 2026 predictions where Mike bets on OpenAI (controversial), and the full holiday musical outro where AI sings about what an "average" year it's been.
CHAPTERS
00:00 Intro - Holiday Special That Isn't
00:55 Shipping Gemini 3 Flash While Looking Like a "Sophisticated Programming Hobo"
02:52 Gemini 3 Flash Review: Cheap, Fast, Surprisingly Smart
06:31 The Unreliable Frontier Model Problem
10:45 GPT Image 1.5 vs Nano Banana Pro Showdown
17:04 FireCrawl Agent: Research That Actually Works
25:56 Gemini Deep Research Agent Deep Dive
31:57 Skills vs MCPs: The New Paradigm
43:35 Enterprise Skills: Codifying Business Procedures
49:57 2025 Model Timeline Recap
59:53 Best & Worst Model of 2025 Awards
1:04:58 2026 Predictions: Mike Bets on OpenAI
1:14:09 Final Thoughts & Holiday Thank Yous
1:19:35 🎄 Holiday Musical: "A Very Average Christmas"
Have a great Christmas/Holiday/New Year, see you in 2026! xox
