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- 25 Best Open-Source (or Freeware) Alternatives You Need To Download
The 250 Most Important Tech Products, Events, and People of 2008
Posted 12/15/08 at 12:00:00 PM by The Maximum PC Staff and Paul Lily
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10. Comcast and AT&T Put a Cap on Bandwidth
Comcast made internet waves by imposing a 250GB bandwidth cap on its broadband customers, followed suit by AT&T experimenting with various limits based on the service level. AT&T’s lowest service plan caps bandwidth at just 20GB with a $1 per GB penalty for going over, but regardless of the size, the majority of outspoken consumers vehemently oppose bandwidth caps of any kind despite being designed to stem the minority of bandwidth hogs.
9. Blu-Ray Beats HD DVD, Nobody Cares
No one anticipated that the high definition format war would end as abruptly as it did, but as more and more studios jumped aboard the Blu-ray bandwagon, Toshiba was left with no choice but to abandon the HD-DVD format. Even with the format dispute settled, consumers continue to cling to standard DVDs and upconverting DVD players. High Blu-ray player pricing, an increased focus on digital downloads, and less disposable income to invest in HDTVs have all contributed to Blu-ray’s lukewarm response.
8. Mozilla Releases Firefox 3 and Grabs More Market Share
Mere months before celebrating Firefox’s fourth birthday, Mozilla launches version 3.0 of its open-source browser and celebrates a record number of downloads instead. Just over 8 million downloads in a 24-hour period was enough to set a new Guinness World Record, but that’s not all the new browser accomplished. In the ongoing war with Microsoft and its Internet Explorer browser, Firefox increased its market share to 20 percent, representing a 329 percent growth rate since its inception.
7. Eee PC’s Small Footprint a Big Step for Portable Computing
Technically, Asus didn’t create the term netbook, but it might as well have, as the company’s Eee PC has become the face of the fad. The surprising success of these subnotebooks spurned widespread competition from nearly every OEM imaginable, including Aspire and MSI, who have turned what was once a one man show into a three-way cage match. Still, no other company’s netbook enjoys the same brand recognition as Asus’ Eee PC.
6. Storage Becomes Stupid Cheap
The price per gigabyte takes a nose dive to the point where the world’s first 1.5TB hard drive debuts at just $190, and we’re not talking about gimped drives with lethargic spindle speeds and neutered cache. A 1TB 7200RPM with 32MB of cache routinely streets for just $109, and sometimes dips just below the $100 mark. At roughly a dime per gigabyte, the Tera Era enters full swing, making the recycle bin nearly obsolete.
5. Vista SP1 Arrives and Fixes a Broken OS
Vista users fed up with slow file transfers and lackluster performance celebrate the OS’s first Service Pack and its many fixes. Much more than just a series of security plugs, SP1 offers speed gains in everything from browsing network file shares to manipulating zipped files, and so much more. Even the Photo screensaver is snappier. For the first time since its release, Vista isn’t all that bad.
4. Death Knell Rings for DRM
After suffering through years of music tethered to annoying DRM schemes, consumers (and the voice of reason) finally win out as DRM-free downloads become the norm and not the exception. DRM hasn’t been completely obliterated, but it has become clear that the days of restricted music are at an end when Sony BMG, the last major holdout, embraces MP3s free of shackles, just as God intended them to be.
3. Solid State Drives Storm the Mainstream Market
As prices for NAND memory continue to fall, storage manufacturers seize the situation by moving solid state drives from a high-priced niche category to an affordable storage alternative. Surprisingly, it’s OCZ and Super Talent that led the initial charge with low-price offerings. The price-to-performance ratio still keeps SSDs from supplanting hard drives by and large, but SSDs have found a home in low-power netbooks and notebooks.
2. ATI R700 GPU
It’s rare that we heap hearty praise on a chip that’s actually slower than the competition, but ATI’s R700, which powers the Radeon 4000 series, deserves accolades for focusing on efficiency first, then performance. By stepping back from the power-consumption brink, ATI delivers a lust-worthy GPU that kicks ass in single- and multi-GPU configurations, without requiring a crazy 1400W PSU.
1. Core i7 Crushes All Others
Core i7. Born from a weekend fling between a Core 2 Quad and an Athlon 64, Intel’s Core i7 inherits the best attributes of its parents to become the most badass CPU on the planet. With an on-die memory controller, chip-to-chip interconnect, tri-channel DDR3, individual core Turbo mode, instructions to aid super computing tasks, and Hyper-Threading, the Core i7 instantly makes all previous desktop CPUs obsolete and girlie-men all at once.
What!?!? Yahoo says to start
Submitted by NessDan on Wed, 07/15/2009 - 11:40am
What!?!? Yahoo says to start wearing purple!!?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p_81l4DXlwM&fmt=18
Submitted by AaronDaub on Mon, 12/29/2008 - 11:28am
|196. Death of the Internet, as Written by Mark Cuban
Dallas Mavericks owner and one-time avid blogger Mark Cuban made his fortune on the internet, so it came as a bit of surprise when the outspoken billionaire declared the internet dead. And he didn’t stop there. Cuban said “the internet’s for old people,” though 5 minutes on Runescape would have anyone >>>>signing<<<< a different tune. Maybe Cuban was just having a bad day, like the ones he suffers each year when the Mavericks exit the playoffs empty-handed."
It should be singing, not signing. Tssk tssk.
B+
Submitted by jwalch.hawk on Thu, 12/25/2008 - 1:23pm
This a nice article overall, and including images for each item is definitely a plus.
Unfortunately, you guys ran into the problem that always seems to come up with a large compilation like this - duplicate items and/or items that should have been merged. One poster already remarked about the fact that 76 and 21 are both basically the same thing (Seagate's 1.5TB drive). Some others:
139 - Firefox 3 sets 24-hour download record &&& 8 - Firefox 3 release (accompanying image was even the Download Day cert)
121 - Tera Era brings joy &&& 6 - Storage becomes stupid cheap (paragraph refers to Tera Era). Even uses the Tera Era image from Hitachi's cartoon as the accompanying image
Also about 30485345 (ish) all about piracy-related law suit X,Y,Z, seperate entries for Microsoft's general PR campaign this year, and a couple different ones about the Atom that kind of circularly referred to each other (generally items in a top ___ list should stand independently).
I would have much rather seen a top 100 or maybe 150 with a bunch of these combined. Also, for the record, it does not require a PhD in math to catch the typo on the Mersenne prime thing, as even I caught that. :P
Submitted by nduanetesh on Fri, 12/19/2008 - 9:52pm
How is Seagate's 1.5 TB drive both number 76 on the list and number 21? It doesn't even seem like the two entries are highlighting different aspects of the drive.
BTW, I imagine the planning meeting for this article went something like this:
WILL: Ok guys, we need to make a list of the top ten tech events of this year.
GUYS: Aw MAN! Top ten?!? We'll never whittle it down to ten!
WILL: OK...top twenty then...
GUYS: Twenty? That's crazy talk! We can think of at least 250 important things right off the top of our heads!
WILL: Alright, so out of those 250, how many do you want to choose for our list?
GUYS: Choose? Why don't we just put down everything we can think of and call it a day?
WILL: Done!
GORDON:[walks into room] I hate this shit!
Submitted by eday_2010 on Wed, 12/17/2008 - 5:05pm
Even though it's been put to rest, I still use Netscape. I am using it right now, actually. Once it no longer becomes viable to use it, I'll have to switch over to Netscape's bastard child, Firefox. But I'll use the Simply Green add-on to give it its father's personality and look.
Submitted by eday_2010 on Wed, 12/17/2008 - 3:52pm
newegg.ca's prices aren't any better than any of the local computer shops around my city. Plus I don't have to pay shipping at the shops, nor do I have to wait for anything.
Question
Submitted by plaskon on Tue, 12/16/2008 - 10:28am
Guys, #62 Creative Creates Working X-Fi Drivers for Vista Users . . .
Does this mean my SoundBlaster Live Drive II will work in Vista now?
Loved the list but...
Submitted by Gailim on Tue, 12/16/2008 - 10:08am
proofreading? come on guys the errors were too many to count.
this isnt toms hardware, come on.
I loved the list but dont you guys work for a magazine?
Submitted by savage4naves on Tue, 12/16/2008 - 7:08am
excellent list; great reading
churros? anybody want a churro?
Submitted by kate_phd on Tue, 12/16/2008 - 5:46am
#205 says that the new Mersenne Prime is 243,112,609-1. This is not the new Mersenne Prime -- it's not even a prime number (after all, it ends in 8). Likewise, the article says Mersenne Primes are of the form 2n-1, which is incorrect. Most primes are of the form 2n-1, and this is not interesting.
The corrected versions of both statements require exponents. The new Mersenne Prime is 2^{43,112,609}-1 and Mersenne Primes are those of the form 2^n-1. Don't feel too bad, though; Time Magazine made the same typographical error, as found at http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1852747_1854195_1854157,00.html .
Kate, Ph.D. Candidate in Mathematics
Submitted by jwalch.hawk on Thu, 12/25/2008 - 1:31pm
That Time made the same goof? :P
Anyway...
I feel like I should pick on the somewhat ambiguous lack of parantheses for (2^n)-1 [should be obvious since 2^(n-1) isn't prime for n > 2] just 'cause you said you're a PhD candidate. And pick on word choice because the only prime that *isn't* of 2n-1 (no exponents) is 2 itself... So perhaps 'nearly all' would be better than 'most'. Anywho... Good luck with whatever examinations and/or presentations to a board of intimidating experts you have left in your work. I tip my hat to anyone brave (and/or insane) enough to get that much education in purely mathematics.
Submitted by eCho1 on Mon, 02/02/2009 - 10:52am
Guy Hawk,
Go easy ... Kate is correct hands down ... and you are also, only correct after the fact! But you come second to Kate.
In COMPUTING Kate's would be actually more efficient and mathematically operator-operand CORRECT too! From that Kate is absolute PhD ... I would think twice about making you an expert Examiner or put on a Board vetting green grads.
Try it.
Good Luck.
KP.
Really nice write-up
Submitted by afroloop on Mon, 12/15/2008 - 3:58pm
Nice write up. I agree about the Apple Safari crapware, that was major lame on them to do that.
8 reasons to boycott an obnoxious company
Submitted by QUINTIX256 on Mon, 12/15/2008 - 9:52am
237. Assassin’s Creed First to Support DX 10.1, Stirs Controversy
222. Nvidia Launches GeForce 9-Series, Not Much Better than 8-Series
186. Nvidia Breaks Promise to Simplify Product Line
(and stop milking the most overmarketed number in the world: 8800)
185. GeForce GTX 260 "Core 216" vs. 218. Radeon 4850 "same GPU that powers the Radeon 4870 HD"
177. Nvidia Enforces Manufacturer Advertised Pricing
161. Nvidia CEO Promises to “Open a Can of Whoop Ass”
155. At Long Last, Nvidia Implements Multi-Monitor SLI Support16. Microsoft Points Finger at Nvidia for Poor Perception of Vista
Submitted by Russtynailz on Mon, 12/15/2008 - 7:26am
the best line was "Thanks for opening that can of worms, asshat."
Submitted by m469699 on Thu, 12/25/2008 - 2:14pm
agreed. That one had me laughing. Sounds like something Gordon would come up with.
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