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Top Tech Breakthroughs of 2008

Posted by ScuttleMonkey on from the r&d-still-hard-at-work dept.

As we approach the end of the year it's time once again for the never-ending stream of retrospectives and year-in-review discussions. Wired has their version of the best technology breakthroughs of 2008. From phones to shrinking laptops to flexible displays, there is no shortage of interesting advancements when looking back at this year. What other groundbreaking advancements were made this year, and what do we have to look forward to for 2009?

5 of 116 comments (clear)

  1. WTF? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

    The Memristor loses out to the Apple App Store..

    Wha-What?!!?

    1. Re:WTF? by Xerolooper · · Score: 5, Insightful
      And I love the statement (yes I rtfa)

      Until this year, mobile app developers lacked an easy way to get their software into the hands of consumers, forcing them to make deals with finicky and power-hungry carriers if they wanted to get any distribution at all.

      This as apposed to forcing them to make deals with a finicky and power-hungry hardware manufacturer.

      --
      "The stupid neither forgive nor forget; the naive forgive and forget; the wise forgive but do not forget." -Thomas Szasz
  2. Oh dear by netsavior · · Score: 5, Insightful

    So lets see the advancements are:
    Finally implementing a 37 year old technology
    A website for buying programs - Apple App store
    Actually using flash memory, a fairly old technology
    a bathing suit
    Actually using a 1978 technology - GPS
    A slightly better consumer digital video camera
    The third major revision of an old technology - USB 3.0
    Microchips that are small
    A cellphone operating system
    and, presenting, the ONLY actual innovation of 2008

    Flexible displays that barely work!

    so glad I live in the age of technological miracles

    1. Re:Oh dear by Albert+Sandberg · · Score: 4, Insightful

      I don't know if the LHC should be accounted for this year, but if it missed the list, something is not right.

  3. There's innovation, just not in WIred by Animats · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Part of the problem is Wired, or "Tired", which has turned into a sort of Sharper Image catalog. (Sharper Image itself is defunct.) Wired doesn't really have reporters any more; just "editors" and ad reps. Hence their product orientation.

    More significant tech events this year include:

    • Big Dog. At last, robust legged robots.
    • Cheap "netbook" computers. The price point in laptops is dropping.
    • Wind farms that are really big. The US has about 18 GW of installed wind capacity, more is going in at a rapid rate, and wind power companies are making money. At last, it's a serious source of power.
    • The Tesla car, first delivered in 2008. Yes, it's overpriced, but for the first time, the range and performance are there.

    Those are all more significant than anything in Wired's list.

    There's probably good stuff in the bio field too, but I don't follow that.