The best and worst tech products of 2008
Mon Dec 15, 2008 3:42PM EST
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Lists like this are awfully subjective, but always fun to work on. As Christmas approaches, it's time to reminisce about the products that really floated my boat in 2008... and a few of the ones that made me run away screaming.
Without further ado, here are my -- completely personal -- picks for some of the best products to come from the world of technology from 2008.
The Best
Gateway MC7803u laptop - It has modest specs and average-to-good performance, but $1,000 flat gets you a gorgeous, 16-inch screen and a distinctive, classy chassis, complete with leather trim. It's altogether an excellent value and has all the features that virtually every user needs in a portable.
Rock Band 2 - Arguably the best game of the year -- I find it humbling that I listen to more music while playing Rock Band than I do on my iPod. The ongoing addition of new -- and good -- music to the game makes it an ongoing favorite at Null HQ.
Lenovo IdeaPad S10 - If you must buy a netbook, try Lenovo's outstanding mini, which is exceptionally powerful for its feature set and size and priced to move.
Intel Core i7 CPU - This new CPU is the fastest and most capable microchip on the block, hands down, and it won't melt your computer along the way. Can't wait for the mobile version to arrive in 2009.
Hulu - This web TV service really came into its own in 2008 after a slow and rocky start. YouTube gets all the press (and about 100 times the traffic), but Hulu has the full-length, high-quality commercial shows and snippets that people actually want to watch. And the player is snappier in response than anything else on the market.
Fabrik [re]drive - Environmentalism in the tech world doesn't have to mean just a good take-back program. The [re]drive is made of bamboo and recyclable aluminum, making it not just more eco-conscious than any other hard drive on the market, but better looking too.
Sony Xperia X1 - If it weren't for the $800 price tag, you'd see X1 handsets in the hands of all the digerati instead of the iPhone. (Yeah, I like the iPhone 3G, too, but the atrocious battery life is cause enough to keep it off this year's "best" list.)
Herman-Miller Embody - Can a man fall in love with a chair? Yes, yes he can.
The Worst
Blu-ray - I'm happy to see that Blu-ray players have come down in price... but the media has not, and there's no way I'm paying $25 to watch Step Brothers. Plus the technology is still, bafflingly, dog-slow to respond. There's a very loud and vocal minority that insists that Blu-ray will be a huge success. The market would seem to indicate otherwise. (And no, I am not a disgruntled HD DVD player owner; never owned one.)
Mint.com - Lots of writers hail Mint.com's finance tracking system as the best thing since Coca-Cola Classic, but after weeks with the service I've never gotten it to work right. It still can't grab all my account information from one of the biggest banks in the world... and every month I am (wrongly) chastised for spending over $5,000 on groceries, the category into which all my spending is invariably dumped.
DRM in All Its Forms - Why does DRM still exist? It's so aggravating and generates so many lawsuits that promising products like RealDVD get sued off the planet within days of launching. Three months after launch, RealDVD is still "temporarily" off the market as the company deals with a Hollywood lawsuit.
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47 Posted by gregoryjohnb on Thu Sep 3, 2009 4:13PM EDT Report Abuse
Blue Ray destroys HD DVD for one reason - capacity. It doubles the storage capacity of HD DVD. The speed, price and interactive features for Blue Ray will come with time, but HD DVD would never have caught Blue Ray in capacity. For once the correct format won!
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48 Posted by jsthvnfn23 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 4:43PM EDT Report Abuse
I'm in full agreement with the author of this article.....especially as it pertains to Blu-Ray. HD-DVD did everything that Blu-Ray does currently (2 years before Blu-Ray, might I add) and for a whole heck of a lot less money! (1.5 years ago, the 1080p HD-DVD players from Toshiba cost $150 MSRP, had internet connectivity, played smoother than Blu-Rays, and were all 'fully featured', meaning that their players did not slowly offer all of the features their players could do for more money, a la Blu-Ray. The only advantage Blu-Ray had was the larger size of the media...wow.....that's really a heck of a benefit to the consumer!)
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49 Posted by ghost0mck on Thu Sep 3, 2009 4:08PM EDT Report Abuse
One of the problem with this list is the fact that he dosen't explain in detail why these things are actually on the list. Linkin your past articles are nice but those (from what i could see) were short commetaries and should be expanded upon now that you have hindsight on it. The second thing is this is the tech section.....the list should be on tech items.
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50 Posted by silentmonkeybone on Thu Sep 3, 2009 9:23PM EDT Report Abuse
On the blue ray / DVD thing, all I know is that I can get a 5 movie DVD from the james bond collection for 10 dollars less than a 3 movie blue ray from the same set. I can't really tell the difference between the two, and if it weren't for the fact that the PS3 has a blue ray player, I wouldn't even bother to own one. As for the article, I think it was spot on, with maybe the exception of Rockband. Its a good game , yes, but the best? I question that.
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51 Posted by canterbury_adam on Thu Sep 3, 2009 3:17PM EDT Report Abuse
I have to agree with saab_9_3. It sounds like you're reaching for complaints about blu-ray because you thought hd-dvd would win and that's not the case. About the prices of blu-ray movies; give it some time. If you recall DVD's were just as expensive if not more when it was brand new technology, plus step brother's may not be worth the blu-ray price tag (although it's a halarious movie) try a movie that actually shows off what blu-ray can do, hence The Dark Knight, Iron Man, I Am Legend, and there will be no complaints on blu-ray's price. Last but not least, complaints on the technology being slow is ridiculous. A Playstation 3 loads blu-ray's faster than most dvd player's load their movies.
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52 Posted by myromanceischemicalagain on Thu Sep 3, 2009 7:31PM EDT Report Abuse
I just got my first blu ray it was a sony bd300 and the earlier post is correct update the firmware and it plays much faster. I love blu ray the detail of movies is excellent. And for the reviewer i would pay the price of a rental to watch Stepbrothers. Blu ray prices are coming down and so are the movies, walmart has great deals and ebay also. Not to mention it upscales your old dvds to Near blu ray quality.
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53 Posted by nicky_babs on Thu Sep 3, 2009 7:37PM EDT Report Abuse
You own a PS3 and you can't tell the difference between a Blu-Ray and a regular DVD? You might want to set up a visit with an eye doctor "silentmonkeybone". I love my PS3 and Blu-Ray discs. I haven't noticed any speed problems at all, so calling them slow is questionable. I think there's a lot of bitter Xbox owners on this thread talking ish. Get a PS3 and you'll feel better.
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54 Posted by eljeffe67 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 3:53PM EDT Report Abuse
Some of this list may not apply to me, but I have loved both my iPhones, old and new. It doesn't have the longest battery life, but unless you're stranded in the Himalayas, you can charge it. I agree that there's room for improvement, but it seems that almost every commercial for an electronic device, these days, is crying out, "Look, we're kind-of-like an Apple product, yet way cheaper!" As for Rock Band 2 getting you to listen to more music than on your iPod.......wow. What are you, 14? Why not crank up your iPod and play Tetris to it. At least it would be more interesting to watch and better songs to choose from. I do agree that Hulu rocks. I've been impressed with their quality of streaming video.
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55 Posted by rhuss_vii on Thu Sep 3, 2009 8:38PM EDT Report Abuse
I think the release of high definition formats was a little premature. People really shouldn't be spending their hard earned money to buy the X-men trilogy on Blu ray for $80 when they can get it on DVD at Wal Mart for $15. It makes no sense to switch at this point, especially considering our ailing economy. There are cases too where the Blu-Ray video quality isn't much better than the DVD. These are some things everyone needs to consider.
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56 Posted by ultimateidiot911 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 10:27PM EDT Report Abuse
Maybe you should actually um try looking at bluray movie prices. At retail B&M stores, Blurays are usually $5 off from DVD especially on new releases. Now, if you're smart, you would buy it online where Blurays are less than 20. Most of my blurays, I currently own over 7, I've gotten on a average for less than 20 each. I don't know what Bluray player you're using but I find the loading time pretty good.
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57 Posted by awt342 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 3:00PM EDT Report Abuse
Blu ray is a nice option for people like me who are electronic snobs and love the bells and whistles. That said it will be years before it is the standard. We still have people out there that are getting TV from an antenna!! I love blu ray but even I know that I am in the minority.
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58 Posted by szabo31 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 9:52PM EDT Report Abuse
Blu-ray is an expensive product. Yes. But by no means is it a bad peice of technology. You're talking 50Gigs of data on disk. If someone has a better mobile media, Id love to see it. Dont tell me about some flash drive that crashes after a week. And its the ONLY Full HD movie media. HD on demand and anything you see online isnt 1080 with 7 channels of audio. If you cant afford it, fine, but that doesnt mean its bad tech.
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59 Posted by quickshare2003 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 8:24PM EDT Report Abuse
why do people hark the dawn of movie downloads when they forget that internet service providers are scheming to implement caps on their services... so won't you end up paying more in the long run?
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60 Posted by signaturediamond1 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 9:22PM EDT Report Abuse
Folks please try to look at the Blu ray format objectively and not let your misconceptions and biases dissuade you from supporting the format. Look at the benefits...1) wholesalers and giant retailers carry them for a little under $200; 2) high storage capacity 3)lossless audio codecs 4) pristine picture over hdmi 5) BD live. 6) better coating to resist scratches and marred surfaces. Disc prices under $20 at larger retailers and online stores. The Incredible Hulk on blu ray is absolutely superb.
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61 Posted by raygvisa on Thu Sep 3, 2009 8:31PM EDT Report Abuse
Blu-ray for movies may not be a great idea being that DVDs using upconverting players still look good, but the true strength of Blu-ray comes in the consumer camcorder space. To record in HD takes up a lot of space and one Blu-ray disc can hold up to 25gb per side which is roughly 3 hours of HD at 24mbps. So the only choice is to burn your videos onto Blu-ray unless you want 5 DVD's for every 3 hours of footage with a lower resolution. That is why Blu-ray will survive, it has the gb space required to.
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62 Posted by jet_franson on Thu Sep 3, 2009 4:34PM EDT Report Abuse
Regarding blu ray prices, and plain 'ol DVD pices for that matter... just set your bar and stick to it. I own about a dozen blu rays, all of which are major titles, and most of which I paid $6.50 or less for after watching for sales. The most I paid was $9.99. My bar for DVDs is that I'll pay no more than $3.00 per disc, maybe $5.00 if it's something really special. Everything comes down eventually. I admit that I would love to find some Criterions in that price range, but as others have pointed out that's what Netflix is for.
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63 Posted by silentsniper23 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 9:23PM EDT Report Abuse
I guess Chris missed the sales figures of The Dark Knight on Blu Ray reaching 2 million, Blu Ray really sucks right? It's doomed right Chris? Please save it you and your kind are in the minority, Major Hollywood studios and over 15 different companies are behind Blu Ray as are many major directors in Hollywood. So save your HDDVD fanboy bias for someone else, Blu Ray is here to stay. You are the one not looking at things objectively, take the fanboy goggles off.
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64 Posted by randallstamper1 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 8:28PM EDT Report Abuse
I agree blu ray shouldn't be called "the worst", for so many reasons all of you have said. However, I'm happy the auther DID call it "the worst", because that put it on the front page of Yahoo, brings it to the attention of Blu Ray vendors, and will "hopefully" help bring the price of Blu Ray discs down to reasonable levels so I can expand my Blu Ray collection beyond the 3 titles I was willing to pay for.
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65 Posted by richiestew on Thu Sep 3, 2009 8:40PM EDT Report Abuse
I think the Blu Ray players are great, but not for the masses- which is why it could be considered a bad buy. I don't have a need for Blu Ray, my DVD works just fine and I still hook it up to my Bose system with great results. I do think iPhone should be on the "Best" list for 2008 though. Great phone/machine. It is driving the future. The Gateway, I don't agree with personally as mine broke down twice already. The extra "fees", downtime, and travel time to get it fixed was a complete embarrassment. I should have got an iMac- at least I could run both Windows and Apple on it- they seem to have very high ratings.
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46 Posted by munizm on Thu Sep 3, 2009 7:30PM EDT Report Abuse
I think the author is mistaken on Blu-Ray, but only because it has been around longer than 2008, in fact it was around before 2006. RockBand? is that some kind of sick joke? That is like saying kids rule the world, so I am guessing the Movie of the year was Wall-E and Build-A-Bear the top store? Get serious I thought the article was for people that are into technology (i.e. can afford to spend more than an allowance.) In the end I am guessing everyone gets what they consider value. I personally thought iPhone was a cool phone until you have contract with iTunes. Again these are tech gadgets not for your everyday and everything Wal-Mart shopper. I own 2 PS3s and will be getting a 3rd in about 6 months, it is just that I rather use a Sony than trust Microsoft on anything.