A decade ago we wondered whether the arrival of 2000 would shut down our electrical grids and phone systems and leave us without pagers. Now, as 2010 dawns, we look back on a decade that had more downs than ups, but at least created some cool stuff to play with.
Here are my picks for the past decade’s best gadgets, many of which have had a significant impact on the work journalists do. …
- We got GPS devices for our cars. Until 2000, the GPS signal was “degraded” by deliberate interference by the government.
- The iPod rolled out in 2001 with the promise that “music would never be the same again.” Now, portable digital music devices are part of every decent phone.
- The BlackBerry two-way pager debuted in 1999, but it turned into what we know now as a smart phone in 2002 and everything changed.
- No doubt about it, digital cameras came of age in the 2000s. It meant the death of film labs but the birth of cheap cameras of excellent quality.
- HDTV and HD cameras. All we need now is more programming in HD. The video is amazing.
- The flip camera. Pure Digital Technologies hit a home run in 2007 with this cheap little camera that is now available in HD and soon will be wirelessly connected.
- TiVo debuted in 1997. That led to DVRs, digital video recorders that are now common even among technophobes.
- 3G phones. Faster hand-held phones were a breakthrough. The first 4G network just launched in Sweden, giving cell phones DSL and cable-like speeds. The United States might see 4G phones in 2011.
- When we started this decade, I was still hooking a phone cable into my laptop to get connected. Then came the high-speed wireless phone card. Bingo! Connect my computer anywhere there is a cell signal.
- Cell-phone apps. Maybe it is just an iPhone thing, but apps that help you find restaurants as well as the best buy, play games and help you use Internet search engines on your phone are nice gifts from the tech gods.
- Big flat-screen TVs. Cool. LED, LCD — they all took a turn in the 2000s.
- Slingbox. This allows you to see cable TV programming wherever you go. Road warriors love it as a way to watch their local stations, and especially local sports, wherever they are.
- The Nintendo Wii is a breakthrough interactive gaming device that seniors use for exercise and that the younger crowd uses through Guitar Hero. Wii is a strong example of the power of interactivity.
- Flash drives are our new favorite ways to transfer data. A decade ago, it was all about “burning” CDs, then DVDs. Now, just plug a flash drive into your USB, drag the data over and you have captured it, my friend.
- eBook readers might take off in the 2010s, but so far have sputtered and lurched. The biggest players, Amazon and Sony, might yet produce a more compact reader that can download virtually any title cheaply.
- Noise-canceling headphones. I have to say that this one made long plane rides and nights in a hospital bearable.
- Some list makers have included the headset for cellphones. I am not so sure that deserves to be on the list of big breakthroughs of the last decade. What do you think? I am always disturbed by people talking on their phone while on the toilet, for instance. The headset encourages that.
Other compilations are on Gizmodo’s best gadgets list and PasteMagazine’s countdown.
