Years from now, when future geeks muse over the history of PC tech, what will they remember about 2008? That’s the question we sought to answer when we compiled this comprehensive technology retrospective of the last year. Make no mistake, identifying and sorting the year’s most significant tech events was no easy task. We locked ourselves in a room where we mentally relived the last 12 months, pondering hundreds of items of note and debating the importance of each to find its appropriate rank on our list. Behold the result: our countdown of the 250 items representing the most noteworthy events and product releases that shaped the PC computing landscape in 2008.

250. Newegg Opens in Canada

It’s hard to imagine a life without Newegg, the second largest online-only retailer in the U.S. But for Canadian computer builders, they had no choice but to find their PC parts elsewhere. That is until Newegg opened its doors north of the border.  And no, delivery by Mooseback isn’t a shipping option.

249. Sony is First with 8x Blu-ray

While we were waiting for other Blu-ray manufactures to catch up to LG’s 6x BD-R write speeds, Sony pulls a fast one—literally—and releases the first 8x burner to be sold in the U.S. What does the BWU 300S mean to Blu-ray fans? 22GB BD-R writes in less than 14 minutes! That is, if you’re using the manufacturer recommended Panasonic 6x media. 

248. Army Warns of Twitter Terrorism

An Army intelligence report makes the rounds warning that Twitter could be used by terrorist organizations to coordinate militant attacks. The report, which first surfaced on the Federation of the America Scientists website, laid out three separate scenarios in which evil doers might use modern mobile phone applications in conjunction with Twitter to do their evil deeds.

Image Credit: The Inquisitr

247. Cuil Search Engine Sucks

What happens when a band of ex-Google employees set out to make a better search than their former employer? The end result is Cuil, which is pronounced ‘cool’ but is anything but. Not only did the startup stumble out of the gates to heavy criticism over its search results, but Cuil’s Product VP Louis Monier bailed on the company just a month after its launch amid “philosophical differences.”

 246. Yahoo Asks Surfers to Start Wearing Purple

Yahoo launches a quirky marketing campaign encouraging surfers to ‘Start Wearing Purple.’ Why purple? Apparently that’s Yahoo’s official color, never mind that the logo has long been colored red. As part of the grassroots effort, the company creates a website centered on all things purple, including a purple-themed gift shop.

 245. NZXT Tempest Case

 Our favorite budget case is a virtual carbon copy of the Antec Nine Hundred, only $50 cheaper. Some might deride NZXT for a lack of imagination, but we say, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. We loved the Nine Hundred and we well appreciate a similar model at a lower price point.

 244. Zune 3.0 Makes Zune Zunier

Microsoft had hoped its Zune player would usurp Apple’s iPod from the media player throne, and while things didn’t work out that way, Microsoft did manage to make its Zune a more compelling alternative with its 3.0 software update. The biggest change came in adding WiFi support so that users could wirelessly download and stream songs from any hotspot. Several other enhancements added to Zune’s appeal, but in the end, Apple still ruled the roost in 2008.

 243. GPS Hires Voice of KITT from Knight Rider for Driving Directions

Sure, the old Knight Rider show is cornier than Iowa, and we won’t even talk about what David Hasselhoff has done with his career since then, but who among us hasn’t dreamed of driving around in a 1982 Trans Am with KITT? Mio made that dream semi-possible when it released its Knight Rider GPS, complete with flashing ride lights and actor William Daniels, the original voice of KITT, giving personalized driving directions. Vintage Trans Am not included.

 Image Credit: Radio Shack

 242. Windows 3.11 Finally Retired, Doesn’t Collect a Pension

You may not have even known Windows 3.11 was still alive and kicking, but the ancient OS found renewed life as an embedded platform in low-power platforms, such as cash registers, train schedule displays, ticketing systems, and other simple devices. But after 18 years, Microsoft officially stops issuing licenses for the OS that originally debuted n May 1990.

 241. Blizzard Sues World of Warcraft Bot Creator

Michael Donnelly found himself in shark infested waters after a Vivendi attorney and private investigator visited his home. The visit served as a final warning for Donnelly to stop selling his Glider program, claiming it infringes on the company’s EULA. The Glider application enabls users to automate certain functions, and in the FAQ section, Donnelly freely owns up to the fact that “Glider is against theTerms of Service provided by Blizzard for World of Warcraft.”

 240. Nvidia Dons Cape, Launches Supercomputer

Nvidia brought supercomputing to the desktop when it launched its GPU-based Tesla personal supercomputer, a beast of a machine the company claimed could offer up to 250 times the performance of a standard workstation. Three to four Nvidia Tesla C1060 computing processors, each one made up of 240 streaming processor cores and 4GB of 800MHz GDDR3 memory, came configured in every Tesla supercomputer. That kind of power didn’t come cheap and potential buyers could expect to drop 10 large on a rig.

239. Verizon Buys Its Way to the Top

If money talks, then the world can certainly hear Verizon now. Verizon spent roughly $28.1 billion acquiring rival Alltel, which turned Verizon into the nation’s largest cellular telephone provider. The deal knocked AT&T down to No.2, with Sprint sliding into the No. 3 spot. The deal also culminated rumors dating back to 2005 speculating the two companies were considering a merger.

238. Microsoft VP Dyes Hair Orange after Developers Meet Deadline

Microsoft VP Ted Kummert, perhaps now better known as pumpkinhead, promised to dye his hair orange if his engineering team could wrap up SQL Server 2008 by the company’s deadline. The release was delayed from its initial target, but the developers ultimately came through, and Kummert made good on his promise.

237. Assassin’s Creed First to Support DX 10.1, Stirs Controversy

Assassin’s Creed was the first title to support the new DX 10.1 API, and some benchmarks showed up to a 20 percent performance improvement when using a current generation ATI-based videocard, the only ones to support DX 10.1.  A patch later removed DX 10.1 from the game, leading some to wonder if politics were at play. Conspiracy theorists were quick to point out that the game was part of Nvidia’s The Way It’s Meant To Be Played program. Coincidence?

 236. Professional Gamer Accused of Doping

Whether or not you consider professional gaming to be a real sport, the practice shares some similarities with those that are. Not all of those similarities are anything to be proud of. Australian site GamePlayer wrote an article identifying commonly abused substances gamers have been using to get an edge, including marijuana, amphetamines, Ritalin, and more. Kind of makes you wonder what someone means when they say they achieved a ‘high score.’

 235. HTC Phones Lead the Rebellion Against iPhones

Most would agree that Apple’s iPhone is still the best touch-screen phone on the market, but it’s no longer the only viable option. With the release of T-Mobile’s G1 Android phone, handset maker HTC poses a legitimate threat to the Apple Empire in the mobile phone sector. In addition to the G1, HTC in 2008 sported an impressive lineup of touch-screen phones, including the Windows Mobile-based Touch HD.

 234. CoolerMaster HAF

The High Air Flow case is Cooler Master’s magnum opus. It takes everything that was great about previous CM cases like the Cosmos and mixes them into a glorious best-of. Big fans on the top, front, and side keep air moving, there’s plenty of room for a second PSU or water-cooling reservoir, and the toolless design is always appreciated.

233. WarGames Returns to Theaters for 25th Anniversary

Whether you were in diapers the first time WarGames played in movie theaters or are old enough to remember going to see it back in 1983, everyone got a  chance to see Matthew Broderick play the part of a hacker on the big screen in 2008. To celebrate the War Games’ 25th anniversary and to build hype for a straight-to-DVD sequel, MGM brought the memorable flick back for a single encore showing in select theaters.

 232. San Francisco IT Guy Holds City Hostage

Turns out you don’t need a gun to hold an entire city hostage, you just need access to the city government’s fiber optic network. Terry Childs, a city tech employee, was accused of modifying the city’s municipal network and then refusing to hand over the passwords after being arrested. Even the mayor’s email was affected from Childs’ alleged shenanigans.

231. Team China Wins Annual Advanced Overclocking Championship

After two days of competition in Hong Kong, two contestants from China emerged as Champions of AOCC 2008. The Chinese duo – Xu Gang and Susie – beat out 38 other contestants representing 19 countries by taking the top spot in all 3 categories of the competition. Runners up, in order from 1st to 4th, included Sweden, Portugul, Singapore, and Finland.

230. Record Sentence Handed Out for Computer Sabotage

Yung-Hsun Lin might have a hard time getting his former employer to write him a letter of recommendation. That’s because Lin, a systems administrator fearful he was about to be laid off, dropped a logic bomb on company computers designed to take them out. His unsuccessful attempt translated into a 30-month prison sentence, the longest that has ever been handed out for computer sabotage.