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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?

17 of 116 comments (clear)

  1. Missing entry: by Katatsumuri · · Score: 5, Funny

    0. Year of Linux on the desktop!

    1. Re:Missing entry: by Zontar+The+Mindless · · Score: 4, Funny

      0. Year of Linux on the desktop!

      Hello, please check the title - it's "Top Tech Breakthroughs of 2008", not "Top Tech Breakthroughs of 2004".

      --
      Il n'y a pas de Planet B.
  2. 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
  3. Re:why look back by ChienAndalu · · Score: 5, Funny

    Because people have difficulties remembering the future

  4. Solar Charged Laptops? by William+Robinson · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Solar powered laptops, is something I had been waiting for. Maybe I am day dreaming, but the back of LCD panel could be fully covered with Solar Cells and trickle charge the battery, which might run my laptop for 5-6 hours before needing recharge. I guess solar cells have not become that efficient yet, but, is anybody trying it?

    --
    hilarious
    1. Re:Solar Charged Laptops? by lobiusmoop · · Score: 4, Funny

      I live in Scotland, you insensitive clod.

      --
      "I bless every day that I continue to live, for every day is pure profit."
    2. Re:Solar Charged Laptops? by Daimanta · · Score: 4, Funny

      Personally, I'm waiting for a rain and fog powered laptop. If it can be powered by cold that's ok for the winter too.

      --
      Knowledge is power. Knowledge shared is power lost.
  5. 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.

    2. Re:Oh dear by MightyYar · · Score: 5, Funny

      Seriously... My stock market crashing device didn't even make the list!

      --
      W..w..W - Willy Waterloo washes Warren Wiggins who is washing Waldo Woo.
    3. Re:Oh dear by dylan_- · · Score: 4, Funny

      so glad I live in the age of technological miracles

      Actually, this is *the* age of technological miracles. If technology continues to improve at an exponential rate, then we'll hit the "Singularity". If it doesn't and we plateau for some reason, that means we won't see this kind of progress again.

      However, people like you (PLY?) will never see this progress. Let me give you an example (may not be real (hah! DYSWID?)) of how this works:

      Progress 1990: "In 15 years time we'll be showing video on your computer that will be better than you have on a TV set!"
      PLY: "Yeah, right. Like I want to watch TV on a crappy little monitor and how come these things are always 15 years away?"

      Progress 1995: Demonstration of streaming some video over the Internet
      PLY: "Oh, that's great. Barely working video that's the size of a postage stamp. Wake me up when it's anywhere near as good as my old TV!"

      Progress 2000: Demonstration of near TV quality streaming on your computer.
      PLY: "Huh, what's the use when you can't get the bandwidth to watch anything, it's still not as good quality as TV, and there's no choice of programmes!"

      Progress 2005: Demonstration of full screen, HD TV streaming on your computer
      PLY: "Please! This is progress? I remember seeing video streaming way back in 1995!"

      Check your post to see which stage you're at for each of these...

      (p.s. Just joking. Don't take it seriously or personally. Have a great Christmas and New Year! Slainte!)

      --
      Igor Presnyakov stole my hat
    4. Re:Oh dear by Verdatum · · Score: 4, Funny

      Brilliant! The top tech breakthrough of 2009 shall be a self-padding end-of-the-year tech article! (available 3rd quarter 2012)

    5. Re:Oh dear by lxs · · Score: 5, Funny

      Read the headline. This is about top tech breakthroughs, not top tech breakdowns.

  6. Re:why look back by owlnation · · Score: 5, Informative

    There's several reasons why magazines and other media look back at this time of year (or any time of the year, for a top 10 kind of thing)

    1. It's easy to do. At this time of year, journalists have better things to do than research and write new things. Top 10s are copy-paste jobs.
    2. Ad revenue. Top 10's are almost always viral marketing. There's always a few WTF? entries. Those are the ones that the whole article is built around to sock-puppet promote.
    3. They are controversial. So, they drive up hits.
    4. Oddly, people like them. They are very popular content.

  7. Globalsolar by Kupfernigk · · Score: 4, Informative
    Globalsolar of Tucson, Az. make 6W panels using the latest (and relatively efficient) non-silicon technology, but in most locations you will need at least 5 of them to run even a netbook. You certainly don't want them on the back of the lid as (a) they would take up far too much space but (b) do you really want to run a laptop while facing full sunlight?

    I am building an experimental rig to measure the actual power available from 2 of them mounted in the best position (i.e. facing south at the best angle for each season) over the year, and I hope to report on this for the south of the UK in early 2010. In the meantime, don't hold your breath for a feasible, lightweight solution.

    --
    From scarped cliff or quarried stone she cries "A thousand types are gone, I care for nothing, no not one."
  8. 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.