The 100 Best Products of 2008

 

The 100 Best Products of the Year

Edited by Mark Sullivan, PC World

This year's tech gems -- as picked by PC World editors and readers -- will leave you more productive, connected and entertained.

After a good deal of -- ahem -- lively discussion, the editors at PC World have completed this year's list of the 100 best technology products available today. How did we do it? After nominating hundreds of devices, apps, sites and services we knew to be good, we rated each one on its design, functionality, performance and impact; the ones garnering the highest total scores made our list. Note that we chose not to rate products specifically on their price or value, focusing instead on their overall quality. After the scoring was over and the dust had cleared, we had a list that served, among other things, to remind us of what an exciting time in tech this truly is, with game-changing product development happening on many fronts.

The No. 1 Product of the Year

1. Hulu (video site, free/ad-based)
Hulu may offer the best-looking, most watchable Web video to date, rivaling the standard-definition content of regular TV. A well-financed joint venture of NBC Universal and News Corp., Hulu is ultimately a one-stop on-demand repository for high-quality programming -- the holy grail of online video.
Hulu's content includes current prime-time shows from Fox, NBC, MGM, Sony, Warner Brothers and others, plus TV reruns new and old. Hulu's list of full-length movies has burgeoned since the site's debut last October. The high-def content gallery is mostly a clipfest so far, but it should blossom as video compression and broadband speeds improve.

Hulu also lets you cut and share clips with friends as you watch. If Web video is destined to clobber cable and satellite by giving us more control over our TV viewing experience, Hulu represents easily the best attempt yet at that ideal. Review

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Sound Off: What are your picks for best tech of the year?

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2. Apple iPhone (smart phone, $400 with two-year AT&T wireless contract)
Rarely have handsome industrial design and breakthrough technology (including the supercool multitouch interface and visual voice mail) mated so happily as in the iPhone -- and the rest is history. Review | Check prices

3. Facebook (online social network, free)
Facebook is a very popular way to stay in touch with your friends' status, photos, plans, events and more. But it lands at No. 3 on our list because the application development platform it created last year is beginning to spawn some truly useful third-party-developed tools. Site

4. Microsoft Windows XP (operating system, not sold separately)
It has been discontinued except as an option for certain low-end PCs, but XP is leaner, meaner and less bloated than Vista. Despite the outcry from users, however, at press time Microsoft still planned to retire the OS on June 30, 2008. Review | Check prices

5. Lenovo ThinkPad X300 (ultraportable laptop, $2,500)
As everyone swooned over Apple's hot Air, Lenovo snuck in the back door with a business-centric notebook that answers most of the Air's shortcomings. It has processing power to burn, plenty of ports -- and a paper-thin optical drive. Stick that in your manila envelope, Steve. Review | Check prices

6. Flock (browser, free)
Sick of having to surf to all your favorite sites and services? Flock integrates Facebook updates, Twitter feeds, YouTube videos, Flickr photo streams, Gmail and Yahoo Mail and blogging tools into a single navigation (and browsing) interface. Review | Download

7. Eye-Fi (wireless camera memory card, $100)
The 2GB Eye-Fi card converts any digital camera's Secure Digital slot into a Wi-Fi-enabled device, so you can upload photos directly from your camera to your PC or to sites like Flickr. Review | Check prices

8. Casio Exilim Pro EX-F1 (digital camera, $1,000)
The 6-megapixel EX-F1 captures video at up to 1200 frames per second at its lowest image-quality setting and shoots full-resolution (1920-by-1080-pixel) images at 60 fps. Video review

9. Harmonix Rock Band (game bundle, $170)
All you need is your PS3, Xbox 360 or Wii to get the band back together. Really, "Rock Band" is "Guitar Hero" times three: It puts you on tour as a guitarist, singer or drummer. Video review | Check prices

10. Wikipedia (open-source encyclopedia, free)
This online trove of information has more than 1.6 million volunteer-contributed articles on everything from Britney to biochemistry. It becomes more credible and reliable as more people check and edit the entries. Site
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11. Netflix (DVD rental and online video site, $5/month and up)
Though it started as a DVD-by-mail service, Netflix offers an ever-widening array of movies, TV shows and documentaries that you can stream instantly to your PC. With any of the service's DVD-by-mail plans you can watch as much streaming video content as you want. Site

12. Microsoft Xbox Live (online service, $59/year)
You can download a lot more than game demos from Xbox Live. Other options are full retail software, independent and home-brew games, expansion packs, music, weekly video updates for gamers, TV shows and HD movies. Site

13. Apple iPod Touch (media player, $299-$499)
The iPod Touch's beautiful design, 3.5-inch (and 480-by-320-pixel) multitouch screen, built-in Wi-Fi, and useful array of applications (such as Mail, Maps, Stocks, Weather and Notes) outweigh any quibbles that might arise regarding its audio quality. Review | Check prices

14. Craigslist (online classifieds and discussion, free)
In many cities, Craigslist is the best way to get a job, find an apartment, buy furniture or get a date. It's not flashy or slick, but you won't see any commercial ads here, and the Best Of section is not to be missed. Site

15. Scrabulous (PC game, free)
This exceedingly Scrabblelike game, created by brothers Rajat and Jayant Agarwalla, has become such a popular Facebook application that Scrabble's trademark holders, Hasbro and Mattel,