The 100 Best Tech Products of 2006

prostoalex writes "You've read about the 25 worst tech products, now it's time to check out a list of the 100 best tech products of 2006 from the same publication. PC World named Intel Core Duo, AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual-Core, Craigslist.org, Apple iPod Nano and Seagate 160GB Portable Hard Drive the best tech products of this year."

Comments

Mostly blank column

[machine of god]

How about letting the comments extend to the left edge of the screen. To be honest, I don't come here for the crap articles. Slashdot's real content is the comments.

The way it is now looks like a xanga page 'customized' by someone with maybe some aesthetic ability. It looks ok, but it's still generic as hell. The front page is pretty good, but the format doesn't support area where the real value of the site is.

another "please consider advertising with us" list

[fermion]

This list reads like the top cars of the year list in an automotive magazine. Enough catagories so that each major mass market automobile manufactur gets one winner for each major automobile they produce. These lists are more like an effort to get more advertising from the manufacturers than editorial content.

So apple gets two listing for the ipod. Both Intel and AMD gets the top two spots. Hey, I wonder who makes chips for most computers? Googles gets a number of spots all the way through, and even Amazon, someone who probably advertises a lot but has done almost nothing interesting, gets an honorable mention for it's lame search facility. Throw in an award for every printer, every camera, and a few nods to popular technology, and can we say suck up.

I know that people like to complain about stealth ads on /. In this case, the complaints are warrented. This has no editorial content, and simply is a way for pcworld to prove to advertisers that pcworld cares about them.

Should have posted a separate story

[Anonymous Coward]

When the css change-over went into effect, it should have been a separate story; "New format in effect!"

Now the poor 100 best product story will be filled with NOTHING but comments on Slashdot itself.

Apple List entries

[Marcion]

The Boot camp is at number 10, while the Mac Mini is down at 35??? Surely they are the wrong way around?

Surely the trip-proof magnetic AC adapter is far more important than Boot camp?

Apple got Windows working on Intel hardware, Big Whoppee, Windows on Intel, like fifty billion other people haven't already?

-----------------------
If this is nuts then excuse me but I having a hyper-fit with this new Slashdot layout. I'll just go lie down in dark room for a bit.

Re:Sad for MS

[toddestan]

On the other hand, a product that enables Macs to boot Windows XP comes in at number 10.

Re:Thank you for your opinion - now here's mine.

[ResidntGeek]

1. The font sucks. It's harder to read.
2. Too much white, like there's too much space in between everything.
3. Posts not indented enough, it's hard to tell what's a reply to what without much pointless scrolling up and down.
4. Accidentally clicking on the "sections" header opens a settings box which won't go away for a minimum of 5 seconds after you click the [x].
5. The "Read More" link is far away from where my eyes and cursor end up after reading the summary.
6. Scores on the wrong side of the comment header.
7. Why the hell isn't the old layout an option? CmdrTaco was explicit in his statements that it was just a superficial redesign with no drastic changes, it can't require much more than an extra variable in the code.

I'm sure I'll keep discovering reasons to hate it as time goes on. If you'd like updates, just say so and I'll post them here.

Re:Slashdot new layout crashes my Opera 9

[DavidWide]

If a browser crashes, it's the browser's fault. No web page can be held responsible for a browser crash, regardless of content. File a bug report with Opera.

Re:Slashdot CSS

[Lord_Dweomer]

Honestly, I think we should have the option of using the old version. But the biggest issue I have with this version is that it COMPLETELY breaks up the flow of how I read comments. I used to be able to skim comments by their mod points. If I wanted to read a bit faster, I wouldn't change my threshold or anything, but I would just kinda skim over the 3s and maybe 4s since I browse at +3. However now that the comment scores are on the FAR RIGHT....completely away from all the rest of the post information, my eyes are jumping all over the screen and it is screwing things up.

Please for the love of god fix that, or give us the option of going back to the old way. If it aint broke, don't fix it.

Re:Slashdot CSS

[Bega]

I dunno, I kind of am longing for the old look. I think the colors are lighter or something. It doesn't feel right anymore.

Sortof, yes, since you've probably gotten used to the old layout. I got used to it after some while, but let's face it, it wasn't the nicest to the eye. I think it's nice that Slashdot finally got a facelift, and a nice one at that too. And Slashdot got finally SPACES between the different parts of the pages.

Re:And now it's time... fooor.... completely OT po

[T.Hobbes]

I like the new look overall, but I have a couple complaints:

- The 'Sections' header in the sidebar should not open up a (kludgy) preferences window. People only change that kind of thing once in a blue moon; there's no need for it to be on the front page. I'd much rather it be a link (like the 'Vendors' header), pointing to the search page or something
- The open/collapsed state of the lefthand sidebar seems to be preseved between browser sessions, but only on the front page: Once you enter a story, it defaults to the open state for all items in the sidebar
- The comment score should not be on the extreme right
- The [blink] tag is used far too sparingly

Re:Slashdot CSS

[biglig2]

Worst thing of all, by not changing it at the same time as posting an announcement story, all the meta-discussion about the new look is stuck here in a story making it impossible to read.

Re:Slashdot CSS

[sr180]

At first glance, it looks prettier, but its much less functional. I was much more comfortable reading slashdot in the old format.

Re:Slashdot CSS

[John Nowak]

For the sake of building consensus, I also agree. I like most everything else about the new version, but, especially when you have a wide browser window, the current score location is very spatially jarring.

Re:Thank you for your opinion - now here's mine.

[dcam]

8. The scores are on the right hand side. The score is an important part of deciding whether to read a comment. When it is over the far right hand side you can't read the subject and the score in one quick glance.