The best and worst tech products of 2008

Tech.Yahoo writes, "Find out why Blu-ray made the short list of the worst products this year.

Lists like this are awfully subjective, but always fun to work on. As Christmas approaches, it's time to reminisce about the products that really floated my boat in 2008... and a few of the ones that made me run away screaming.

Without further ado, here are my -- completely personal -- picks for some of the best products to come from the world of technology from 2008."

[xwabbit]

Y do they approve blogs with personal opinions ?

[Panthers]

Why do they approve Yahoo news? It is horrendous. I use Yahoo as my Home Page because it is my email, but I am wanting to change it badly.

[MNicholas]

if he doesn't care to pay a few bucks extra for much higher visual and audio fideility for that particular title, then he can always get the DVD version and watch it on the blu-ray player.

Having said that, I doubt this fellow would have been as offended by the price of higher quality if the disc happened to be HD-DVD, which had media priced exactly the same as Blu-Rays. He seems to have a chip on his shoulder regarding Blu-Ray in particular.

Having said that, going by his rather lame 2009 tech predictions, this guy's clearly out of the loop and doesnt have a solid grasp of the technology market and the direction it's headed.

[XxZxX]

Yeah spread the FUD for microsoft and hope that microsoft will buy his company again.

[Dread]

I agree. i do not know why they approve this. It is criticizing Blue-ray, thus it is against Sony. We cannot have articles against Sony in N4G. that is blasphemy

Do not worry, i am sure the Sony Defense Force and sackboys alike will come to the rescue of Sony. Some day we will prevail and we will have absolutely no negative news about Sony, only about the 360 and the WII.

besides we all know that MS pays every single journalist except those who write positive things about Sony. Ms is all about money and we will not allow them to compete. Here at Sony it is about gamers first and money second.

peace

[jadenkorri]

had the 360 had put blu ray in there 360, i bet it would be praised for ever and these FRACKING articles wouldn't be here...

[Tarasque]

HDDvd was alot cheaper than BluRay, just 5 more dollars than a dvd. And the reason being is cause they didn't have to change the dye when stamping dvd, cd's and hddvds cause they all used the same. Now bluray uses a different dye so when they are printing cd's or dvd's they have to change the whole setup then stamp bluray disc which makes them costly. Until they can get Blurays under 20 bucks i will not be supporting the format. And hopefully they can get some consistent transfers, which is daylight to dark from bluray to bluray.

[sonarus]

i was going to post this but i was lazy. IMO the list is poor.

I'm happy to see that Blu-ray players have come down in price... but the media has not, and there's no way I'm paying $25 to watch Step Brothers. Plus the technology is still, bafflingly, dog-slow.

Thats like admitting bias. I do agree blu ray disc MSRP needs to come down but if you look for it you will usually find some really good deals on most blu ray movies

[blackpanther25]

ANYBODY can get step brothers on blu-ray for $18.99 at amazon.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/of...

[pansenbaer]

Why anybody would want to own that movie is beyond me...

Oh and...

http://www.bestbuy.com/site...

http://www.bestbuy.com/site...

WTF!? also, a DVD version of Step Brothers is 22.99 while Blu-Ray is 27.99

So 5 bucks for a better picture, better sound, possibly more bonus features, etc.

Does everybody expect to pay the same money for front row seats at a concert as the people in the nosebleeds?

[UltimateIdiot911]

He hates all forms of DRM. He must not be a big fan of DD either.

[Darkseider]

It was inevitable. First the Blu-Ray sales up 300% and The Dark Knight selling some ungodly amount on Blu-Ray. Now the Blu-Ray is bad/worst tech of 2008 opinion piece. This site never ceases to amaze me, ever.

[Simon_Brezhnev]

so true we should make a bet how many articles going to be biased against the ps3/blu-ray the rest of the week i say 10

[MegaMohsi]

Dark Knight on Blu Ray is sold out on Amazon.com but hey Blu Ray sucks right? And it's supporters are in the minority?

[yoghurt]

I'm quite happy with the disc prices now, new films here in the UK are usually around £15, which is no more than what i was paying for DVD's a couple of years ago

[Karum]

I whole heartedly agree.

The most I've paid for a BR movie was £18 from play.com for Ironman I believe.

BR prices in the UK are fine unless you go to a brick and mortar retailer where they tend to be more expensive.

[ultimolu]

...I saw this and I just lol'd.

I guess bluray is doomed again.

/major sarcasm

[WAR_MACHINE77]

This guy is a joke. he always has something he has to say about blu-ray being dead. Probably the only thing on his list I agree with is the embody chair. I make parts for that chair so I got a demo model for a few weeks and it is so awesome, just not quite $1600 awesome.

[xwabbit]

This is the opion of a guy.... and its listed as News | PlayStation 3 | Mobile | PC | Industry News | Tech i mean wow.... aren't there N4G rules ?

[SL1M DADDY]

The rule here is that for every one positive article about the PS3 there MUST be 10 negative ones. It's sad but to be honest, the articles we are reading about the negative points for the PS3 are actually pretty funny giving us a clear understanding of how many stupid people there are in journalism these days and how there is a real Western conspiracy against Sony, an Eastern company.

Oh, and rule number two, be sure to hit the disagree button with one or all of your many spam accounts, especially if the user you are disagreeing with makes sense and posts a legitimate fact.

[Kratos Spartan]

This is one man's opinion for a number of different tech products, try not to take it too serious.

[PotNoodle]

"Blu-ray - I'm happy to see that Blu-ray players have come down in price... but the media has not, and there's no way I'm paying $25 to watch Step Brothers. Plus the technology is still, bafflingly, dog-slow. "

Um, how many times do we have to say this? Blu-ray has a much higher data transfer rate than DVD so a faster drive IS NOT NEEDED!

[MegaMohsi]

Blu Ray came out in 2006? what is it doing on the 2008 list?

[pansenbaer]

Oh snap. You just pwned everybody. Maybe because its still tech available in 2008...? Yeah...you got me...

[ArtisianDragon]

*Stunned*

I seriously don't know what to say...Uh...bubbles I suppose..?

*Feels stupid about that even since I just wiki'd Blu ray today*

[xwabbit]

I can tell you the reason y they posted the blu-ray part there...

[iHEARTboobs]

It's because it solidified itself as the sole HD format this year?

[locos85]

It's because that guy that wrote the article has had it in for Blu-Ray ever since HD-DVD died. This guy has backed and nuthugged HD-DVD. It was his last shot taken at Blu-Ray
http://tech.yahoo.com/blogs...
http://us.tech5.yimg.com/bl...
http://66.196.84.101/blogs/...
http://us.tech5.yimg.com/bl...

[Sitdown]

interesting that he knocked bluray for having $25 movie...but put the Sony Xperia X1 when it costs $800 and in his review of the phone said:

"Lastly there's that little matter of price tag. Who will pay $800 for a cell phone? No matter how excited I am about the mini-touchpad and the XPanel system, I can't justify spending nearly a grand on this handset. Subsidize it to $200 with a contract and I'm on board."

And that is not even discussing the fact that the camera is only 3.2 megapixel and carries a reoccurring charge for service.

[ArtisianDragon]

Yahoo is at it again I see?

"Blu-ray - I'm happy to see that Blu-ray players have come down in price... but the media has not, and there's no way I'm paying $25 to watch Step Brothers. Plus the technology is still, bafflingly, dog-slow."

This is in the tech section I take it just as well..? I thought this guy would have seen a vast difference in the way the DVD is portrayed as well as the Blu ray, that in itself shows it wasn't the worst. Aside from that it seems to be one of the fastest (In rising terms) video medium today. Didn't the Dark Knight sell over 2 Million or something on blu ray alone? As well as other movies becoming widely sold on blu ray to? Yahoo could lose a lot of credibility for simply posting a few sentences on blu ray and not going into anymore depth as to why it was the worst aside from saying it was slow. Needless to say he didn't mention the fact graphics were enhanced more data can be stored on it, so on and so forth.

[MegaMohsi]

How about putting things up there that came out this year like iphone 3g, g1 phone, the new 120 hz lcd tvs, the storm etc etc

[Stryfeno2]

Blu movies are way too expensive...Unless they are 20 bucks and under, I will not buy the movie. I do not care about all the propaganda that comes with it.

[butterfinger]

that you can't afford it. That's also probably why you only own an XBOX360.

[Stryfeno2]

I own all 3 consoles...$30 Blue-ray movie is too expensive plus blu-ray wont magically be better. If a movie suck, then it suck if its on Blu, DvD or VHS.

[rucky]

You can't use that excuse since online prices don't usually go over $30 for bluray movies.

[Keele]

Butterfinger got Butterfingered.

[user858621]

and keele's a bit jealous and wants 2 get butfingered

[butterfinger]

Look, I get it, you don't have a lot of money. IT'S COOL. I'm glad your parents own one of each console, though.

[SleekDeF]

isn't yahoo owned by M$

[quen_gta2]

But as you can see they are trying very hard to impress them.

[Gun_Senshi]

Gaming and Tech is NOT your deparment.

BluRay wasn't even released in 2008 to be in that list.

[eagle21]

Check out the Sony BD-350 with 4.5/5 average and rave reviews! Only $229!

Read all of them. The speeds are fast. Phuk this troll!

Then read PS3 rave reviews! Consumers love Blu-ray!

STFU!

[Socomer 1979]

the media really wants me to hate it but I just can't find a negative.

Flame them!

The Media Must Die! ! !

[McLuvn]

The man put a $1600.00 chair on the best list, then said $5.00 more for a blu-ray disc was too much money :(

[rawd]

haha good catch

[dukadork]

i just rewatched planet earth on a projector: mind F@#%IN boggling!

bluray is an irritation up the ASS for all the bloggolosers on the planet.
they're soooooo entertaining

[Socomer 1979]

& flying in to court on your own private jet.

$5.00 extra for bluray = bad ?
$1600 for a chair = Best ?

I guess his list is fun for him because he's just playing himself.
Americans... Typical.

[quen_gta2]

Not all Americans are this stupid, just the ones sitting in $1600 chairs and talking on $800 phones complaining about blu-ray movies costing an extra $5.

[rawd]

But who's going to save Blu-ray?

[DiabloRising]

Really Yahoo? Okay...

*Goes back to watching Dark Knight in 1080p*

[user3915800]

Yes, its true the format its one of the worst ever created and pushed to the mass market and jet only fools buy this crap. Sony lovers, blu gay players, obnoxious kangaroo brains, and fanboys in particular, just swallow the bullet, because the truth is that blu gay sucks donkey kong balls and so are you fanatics. Get over it BBQ Grills and dust collectors wanted be like me 360.

[user3915800]

Another article out of thousands every month against blue gay
Yes, its true the format its one of the worst ever created and pushed to the mass market and jet only fools buy this crap. Sony lovers, blu gay players, obnoxious kangaroo brains, and fanboys in particular, just swallow the bullet, because the truth is that blu gay sucks donkey kong balls and so are you fanatics. Get over it BBQ Grills and dust collectors wanted be like me 360.

[25]

true journalism is a dying art. this article is rubbish.

[Nicaragua17]

The worst tech products of 2008 were the Xbox 360 and HD-DVD.The best tech products of 2008 were SONY's ps3 and Blu-Ray.

[Jizzle32]

another flop for SONY, blu is listed as the worst invention of 2008. lolOlololol

[Crispy]

This guy clearly is against blu-ray, he is just taking a cheap shot at it with no valid comments what so ever . Won't be going on yahoo anytime soon