Totally Biased List: Best And Worst Technology Of 2007

December 15th, 2007

Here’s my personally biased list of the best and worst technology happenings of 2007:

Best:

1. iPhone: Hands down, the biggest tech device and PR event of the year. Early adopters lining up, glowing reviews, Multi Touch, and the entertaining controversy of the surprise price drop. Basically, the iPhone dominated the conversation from its announcement at MacWorld to year’s end — I can’t think of any other product that did so in 2007.
2. Twitter: My obligatory Web 2.0 nod as the one social site I visited regularly all year and didn’t get bored of. It seems like a dumb idea, but its open-ended nature might be its stickiness factor. On a good day, It’s Techmeme, Digg (link sharing), social networking, IM, and a blog all in one. On a bad day… it’s at least funny. It’s also so brain dead simple to use that my time investment is nil. I predict they’ll be acquired in 2008 for a surprising amount.
3. Internet Video: This was the first year where I actually found it satisfying to watch longer-form videos deployed via the Internet. I downloaded an entire season of a television show and although it took a while, it worked great. YouTube obviously got everyone hooked on short, user-created video, but I’ve seen more and more examples of Internet video done decently at any number of sites: iTunes Music Store, Hulu, ABC.com, and Joost. Although cable still has a lock on the vast majority of people’s video viewing attention, the power of a “viral video” that is sent via email is nearly ubiquitous and something everyone has experienced.
4. LOLcats: This phenomenon gained more attention than warranted… but I still get a smile whenever I check out a few LOLcat pics. Here’s my link page to various LOLcat resources.
5. Google: They just kept printing money and making slight improvements to their various properties, even as the year fades away. I’m hooked on GMail, Google Reader, and increasingly Google Docs. Their 2007 purchase of YouTube seems largely vindicated. More of the same in 2008.

A big part of how I generated the list above was the “spousal test” or the “aging Baby Boomer relative test” meaning, people outside the tech bubble get into it or inquire about said technology unprovoked. I fielded a few amusing questions about an iPhone purchase and far too many ridiculous viral video links via email during 2007.

Worst:

1. Yahoo!: Brickhouse was supposed to be generating cool Web 2.0 ideas but all that came of it was the so-so Yahoo! Pipes and a lot of… well, I can’t think of anything else. In actuality, Brickhouse may be the place itchy Yahoo!s are sent for one last fitting of the golden handcuffs to stop them from leaving. Jerry Yang took over as CEO, but Yang proved he’s no Steve Jobs, as I don’t think anyone outside of Yahoo! has any idea of the results of this 100-day plan. Essentially, Yahoo! didn’t produce a grand Web 2.0 strategy other than the “meh” Mash, and Yahoo! 360 which closed and nobody noticed. Yahoo! should have done a lot more in 2007.
2. Facebook’s Beacon: Hopefully this total PR train wreck wiped some hubris off “the Web 2.0 site” of 2007. Earlier in the year it was Facebook, Facebook, Facebook, but the audacity of Beacon knocked them down a few pegs, and I’m already picking up some mumbles about LinkedIn taking off in 2008. Basically, Beacon seemed to put advertisers over users in a lame attempt at justifying an implied valuation of $15 billion. Selling out a user base for cash should not be encouraged.
3. Second Life: I gave up on the virtual world at the beginning of this year, and from what I gather, I haven’t missed anything — and I refuse to log back in to see if I’m wrong.
4. The HD Format War: The battle between HD-DVD and Blu-Ray just needs to end. I still read conflicting opinions about which format is ahead. Meanwhile, I sit on the fence annoyed.
5. AT&T: This inherently evil mega-corporation is personally, a barrier to purchasing an iPhone. Why oh why can’t we live in a world where you buy a cell phone and choose whatever cell phone provider you like? So my secret fantasy is Apple and Google buying broadcast spectrum and finding some way to create their own cellular network or ISP. Ah, a nerd can dream.

More technology rants along with whining and complaining in 2008.