Home

 

 

 

hits since 1 Jan 2007:

Hit Counter

 

 Locations of visitors to this page

 

 

<
Weather Forecasts | Weather Maps | Weather Radar>

 

 

PC World's ・The 100 Best Products of 2008・ Hits & Misses

a geek's view by Brandon

It's that time of year again when PC World rolls the their list of the 100 best tech products. I must confess, it is a much anticipated list in my book. While I really enjoy the best of tech list, I do not always agree with everything on the list. Sometimes, my disagreements are simply a matter of positioning. For example, some products are ranked too high or too low, in my opinion. With this in mind, I'll highlight some of what I believe to be the hits and misses of this years list. I'll only cover what I consider to be the highlights. The highlights including coverage of the top 10. From there, coverage will be on products that are noteworthy for their hits or misses. A lot are not covered, to PC World's credit as this is at least, in part, an acknowledgment that those products likely are deserving of mention. Here we go with the top 10, and then some:

      1. Hulu. The controversy starts right at the top with the #1 pick. While I do not disagree with a high pick for a quality site with much future potential, it does seem premature to pick this site at #1 until this site is proven by time. I think this is especially true since a media site such as this is data intensive. With much talk of internet providers having to limit the amount of throughput due to the all too likely data crunch.

      2. Apple iPhone. I admit that I am clearly biased in this as in I am not a big fan of Apple. I readily admit that Apple has a good reputation for well-built reliable hardware. My problem is that their products are pricey, and they tend to lock you in on their services to use the product. For example, the iPhone was locked in on AT&T. That is unless you were one of the people who were hacking the iPhone in order to use it with another service. Final word: ranked too high.

      3. Facebook. Way too high! This one may be the miss of the entire list, in my opinion. I know Facebook is popular, but anywhere near a top 10 finish is an outrage considering the manner in which they were violating the privacy of it's users. Sophisticated spyware anyone? Broadcasting users online purchases to all your friends just was not cool in my book.

      4. Windows XP. Who can complain about one of Microsoft's most stable OS.

      5. Lenova ThinkPad X300. No complaints.

      6. Flock. Sounds like an intriguing program.

      7. Eye-Fi. Once again, an intriguing product. Perhaps a top 10 is a little too high considering that Wi-Fi still could use some access expansion.

      8. Casio Exilim Pro EX-F1.

      9. Harmonix Rock Band. Seems fitting for a top 10 since these music games are all the rage.

      10. Wikipedia. No complaints again. I acknowledge that this might be a little controversial due to the infamous inaccuracies. I admit bias as I am an open-source fan. With a little discernment, a person can gain information on a wide range of topics.

      11. Netflix. A little too high. Not a fan of sending off for a movie rental. Especially in an age where one can get a PPV on Directv.

      13. Apple iPod Touch. Once again, too pricey.

      14. Craigslist. Free. A hit!

      16. Nintendo Wii. This one deserves to be in the top 10 for the way it is revolutionizing gaming by including physical activity.

      20. Pioneer Kuro PDP-5010FD. PC World got this right, especially when they noted the high price.

      21. Mozilla Firefox 3. Way too low. This awesome browser deserves to be in the top 10. Call this low ranking a miss.

      23. NPR.org Huh? Big time miss.

      35. Verizon FiOS. Oh only if this were available to more of us. Then it would earn a much higher ranking.

      36. Pandora. Pretty neat for streaming music.

      37. Canon EOS 40D. Ranked too low. Canon has it going on.

      39. TiVo HD. How many years does it deserve to be ranked high. Let's face it, it's a killer product.

      41. Google Gmail. Hit. About right at this rank. Good spam filters, and lots of storage space. Only drawback is the always questionable privacy issues with Google.

      43. Mozilla Thunderbird. Another good Mozilla product. If I was still stuck on dial-up, I'd likely go back to using Thunderbird. Ranking is a hit.

      44. Dell XPS 420. Too high. While it may be a strong computer, does anything Dell deserve a high ranking right now with it's deplorable customer support?

      45. Washington Post. No. No. No. Miss. Be gone from this list.

      52. NYTimes.com Huh, again? How did NPR, The Washington Post, and the NY Times make this list? A big miss. Way too high. Heck, it does not even deserve to be on the list.

      56. Panasonic TH-42PZ700U. Too low. How about the 50 inch being in the top 10 for being one of the best TVs ever made? Especially for the price!

      58. Symantec Norton Internet Security. Too high. While I do not doubt it's effectivness, at what cost does this software perform? A little too much of a resource hog in my opinion.

      64. Amazon MP3. Way too low. Amazon to the rescue to fight back against iTunes. Maybe the Apple die-hards will get to know what it is like to get a taste of some freedom, as in DRM-free.

      68. HP Photosmart C5280. Ranked about right. Call this a hit by PC World.

      85. Canon Pixma MX700. Perhaps this is a little too low. According to my biased view, Canon products are superior products.

      88. Vizio GV42LF. A hit on this ranking. It's hard to beat the picture for the price. A few dollars more will get you a nice Samsung which has excellent LCD products. Pros: good picture quality and good price. Cons: viewing angles on these LCDs is just not that great, and reliability rates are about what you'd expect for a budget model.

      Thanks for checking out my view on the top tech products!  Click here for the full list on PC World's site. 

       

      Return:        Home                Just for Fun