The 250 Most Important Tech Products, Events, and People of 2008
The 250 Most Important Tech Products, Events, and People of 2008
Posted 12/15/2008 at 10:00am
| by The Maximum PC Staff and Paul Lily
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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.
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Professional Gamer Accused of Doping?
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AaronDaub
December 29, 2008 at 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.
jwalch.hawk
December 25, 2008 at 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
nduanetesh
December 19, 2008 at 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!
eday_2010
December 17, 2008 at 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.
eday_2010
December 17, 2008 at 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.
plaskon
December 16, 2008 at 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?
Gailim
December 16, 2008 at 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?
savage4naves
December 16, 2008 at 7:08am
excellent list; great reading
churros? anybody want a churro?
kate_phd
December 16, 2008 at 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
jwalch.hawk
December 25, 2008 at 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.
eCho1
February 02, 2009 at 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.
afroloop
December 15, 2008 at 3:58pm
Nice write up. I agree about the Apple Safari crapware, that was major lame on them to do that.
QUINTIX256
December 15, 2008 at 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
Russtynailz
December 15, 2008 at 7:26am
the best line was "Thanks for opening that can of worms, asshat."
m469699
December 25, 2008 at 2:14pm
agreed. That one had me laughing. Sounds like something Gordon would come up with.
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