Best Technology Inventions in 2010

IPad

How does Apple keep out-inventing the rest of the tech industry? Often, it’s by reinventing a product category that its competitors have given up on. In theory, the iPad is merely a follow-up to such resoundingly unpopular slate-style computers as Microsoft’s Tablet PC. But Apple is the first company that designed finger-friendly hardware and software from scratch rather than stuffing a PC into a keyboardless case. When it calls the results “magical” and “revolutionary,” it’s distorting reality only slightly. One analyst says the iPad is the fastest-selling nonphone gizmo in consumer-electronics history.

FlipBoard

Even if you dote on Facebook and Twitter, spending time with them can feel like getting
pelted in the face by thousands of undifferentiated updates from your friends — exhilarating,
perhaps, but also exhausting. The killer iPad app Flipboard ends the chaos by grabbing updates,
photos and links from your friends and other interesting people, then reformatting everything in a
wonderfully browsable, magazine-like format. You can also add feeds from your favorite blogs and
websites and share items with friends via social media and e-mail. With its oversize images and crisp
typography, it’s a glossy digital publication that feels as if it’s been edited by your pals just for you.

Looxcie

Just when you thought you’d seen it all — and recorded it — Looxcie, a camera worn over the ear, ups the ante. Invented by a parent who found himself fumbling with video cameras while trying to record children’s parties, Looxcie can capture everything the user sees for up to five hours, hands-free. And with the press of a button, a clip of the last 30 seconds of film can be sent to a Facebook page, YouTube or a preset e-mail address — making Looxcie the perfect device for the age of audio-video oversharing.

Kickstarter

Think of Kickstarter as crowdsourced philanthropy — a website where anyone can donate any amount to a project in development, with no money changing hands until a minimum threshold has been met. Case in point: Californian Magen Callaghan wanted to launch a new comic about a half-human, half-zombie character. To create and market a first issue, she estimated a cost of $1,500, so she wrote a pitch letter and solicited a sliding scale of donations. (Five bucks gets you a signed copy, $100 a bag of zombie swag.) Only after she passed the $1,500 benchmark were her pledges called in. Additional proof that this strategy works: the success story of the EyeWriter (see No. 49), a project launched by Kickstarter. It’s low-risk, grass-roots fundraising — $1 at a time.


Square

There might not be a piece of tech more due for an update than the cash register. Enter Square, a payment platform created by Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey. With the aid of a tiny magnetic card reader that attaches to a smart phone, Square lets anyone process credit cards. It might not do away with paper entirely — plenty of people still prefer cash — but you certainly don’t need to wait for a receipt: sign on the screen, and Square sends a copy straight to e-mail.

Sony Alpha A55 Camera

A.K.A. the camera that never blinks. Traditional digital SLR cameras take the nicest photographs around, but they’re hobbled by a decades-old technical limitation: when you snap a picture, the mirror that’s been redirecting the image to your eye and to a focusing sensor pops up momentarily as the image is captured. Until it goes back down, the camera can’t focus. Sony’s Alpha A55 ($849.99 with lens) fixes that with an ingenious translucent mirror that stays put. That means you can shoot up to 10 perfectly focused photos a second and record HD video that never goes blurry. Bonus advantage: with no need to allocate interior space for a moving mirror, the Alpha is noticeably smaller and lighter than its Sony SLR brethren.

Google’s Driverless Car

Is it an autoautomobile? An aut2.0mobile? Whatever you call it, Google’s new Prius — tricked out with radar sensors, video cameras and a laser range finder — has driven itself 140,000 miles without an unscheduled meeting with a light pole. Other geek squads have been running driverless vehicles in the California desert for years, partly at the behest of the U.S. Department of Defense. But only Google can rev the petabyte-sucking mapping technology that guides its car along busy streets and highways. The goal is safety — an admirable one given the world’s million-plus auto fatalities each year. Driverless technology is logical and efficient, and in the near future, it could transform your commute into stress-free transport on a motorized sofa. The sad part for road hogs: if Google is successful in marketing its technology to automakers, you may never get to flip the bird at another driver again.



The English-Teaching Robot

Call it the job terminator. South Korea, which employs some 30,000 foreigners to teach English, has plans for a new addition to its language classrooms: the English-speaking robot. Students in a few schools started learning English from the robo-teachers late last year; by the end of this year, the government hopes to have them in 18 more schools. The brightly colored, squat androids are part of an effort to keep South Korean students competitive in English. Not surprisingly, the proposal has worried a few human teachers — and with good reason. Experts say the bots could eventually phase out flesh-and-blood foreign English teachers altogether.

Sarcasm Detection

This is the most important software ever invented. Of course, if a computer using the Semi-Supervised 
Algorithm for Sarcasm Identification read that last sentence, it would immediately detect the sarcasm. 
Developed at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, the tool is designed to spot sarcastic sentences in product 
reviews. The algorithm has been fairly accurate even in its earliest stages: in a trial involving 66,000 Amazon 
reviews, it was right 77% of the time, pointing to a future in which computers won’t just store your words, 
they’ll interpret your intent.


X-Flex Blast Protection

X-Flex wallpaper won’t make your walls aesthetically pleasing, just safe from collapsing from lethal force. This startlingly resilient covering is designed to reinforce buildings against man-made blasts, flying shrapnel and destabilizing natural disasters. Once the wallpaper is applied, its Kevlar-like material, combined with an elastic polymer wrap, becomes virtually stronger than the wall it’s shielding — so strong that it’s being considered to protect U.S. military bases overseas. Now if only they could make some to cover the windows. No doubt that its future versions will protect our walls and windows as well…

via: Gooptech