Not every noteworthy product was made by Apple in 2009.
We've been doing a lot of end-of-the year lists here at CNET as our editors round up the most popular and best products in their categories. That's all great, but then someone said, "Hey, why don't we do a list that's a best-of-the-best list of all the lists combined?"
Well, that's what I was tasked with, but instead of calling it the "Best products of 2009" or the "Most popular products of 2009," I've come up with "The most notable products of 2009," which I like to think of as a kind of a hybrid between popular, best, and most hyped.
Once again, I've enlisted the help of my fellow editors, so while my name may appear at the top of this list, it's really a collective effort. That said, you can blame me if you don't like the picks (a few may surprise you).
As always, feel free to suggest your own picks. If you make a good case, we'll update the list and make some changes.
Click on any image to start the slideshow and see the picks (they are listed in alphabetical order).
Powerline network adapters, which let you create an ultrafast entertainment network through your home's existing electrical wiring, may not seem sexy to everyone, but we sure like them here at CNET because that's just the sort of people we are. Up for grabs today: Belkin's Gigabit Powerline HD Starter Kit, which is about as good as it gets when it comes to powerline adapters.
Here's what Belkin has to say about today's prize: "Because of its high Gigabit speeds and consistent connection, Gigabit Powerline reduces online gaming latency and provides large bandwidth, making it ideal for online PC gaming and ultrafast high-quality transmission of multiple video streams." While most powerline technology runs at 200Mbps, Gigabit Powerline delivers content at 1000Mbps of speed.
Thanks to Belkin for providing today's prize and we'd also like to give a shout out to Shopper.com, which helped put together several of Crave's holiday giveaways. Shopper.com powers CNET's price-comparison engine, and it's a great site for finding the best prices on products. (See all of Shopper's deals, coupon codes, and rebates).
Normally, the Belkin's Gigabit Powerline HD Starter Kit would cost you about $150, but you have the chance to get it gratis.
So, how do you try to win this Belkin powerline kit? Let me enumerate the basic rules. Please read them carefully; there will be a test.
- Register as a CNET user. Go to the top of this page and hit the "Join CNET" link to start the registration process. If you're already registered, there's no need to register again.
- Leave a comment below. You can leave whatever comment you want. If it's funny or insightful it won't help you win, but we're trying to have fun here, so anything entertaining is appreciated.
- Leave only one comment. You may enter this specific giveaway only once. If you enter more than one comment, you will be automatically disqualified.
- The winner will be chosen randomly. The winner will receive (1) Belkin's ultrafast Gigabit Powerline HD Starter Kit. Approximate retail value is $150.
- If you are chosen, you will be notified via e-mail. Winners must respond within three days of the end of the contest. If you do not respond within that period, another winner will be chosen.
- Entries can be submitted until Friday, December 18 at 6:59:59 a.m. ET.
NO PURCHASE NECESSARY. MUST BE LEGAL RESIDENT OF ONE OF THE 50 UNITED STATES OR D.C., 18 YEARS OF AGE OR OLDER AT DATE OF ENTRY INTO SWEEPSTAKES. VOID IN PUERTO RICO, ALL U.S. TERRITORIES AND POSSESSIONS AND WHERE PROHIBITED BY LAW. Sweepstakes ends at 7 AM ET on December 18, 2009. See official rules for details.
Good luck.
Come back tomorrow for our next holiday giveaway, which will be a Vizio 32-inch LCD TV.
On Sale Now: $149.99 - $160.99
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The Neato Robotics XV-11 vacuum goes on sale in February for $399.
(Credit: Neato Robotics)Roomba has been king of the robotic vacuum market for a while, but Neato Robotics, a start-up out of Menlo Park, California, will be trying to usurp the throne in February with a new automated vacuum that will cost $400.
While the company expects to have multiple robotic housekeeping products in the future, its debut product is called the Neato XV-11. What makes it better than Roomba vacuums? Neato says it's smarter because it features a high-tech laser-powered Room Positioning System (RPS) to map your room and avoid most obstacles. And since it's smarter, it cleans a room in a more efficient manner, allowing it to finish the job more quickly.
We saw the Neato XV-11 in action and were pretty impressed with what it could do. It runs for about an hour on a replaceable, rechargeable battery and automatically returns to its base station for recharging when it's running low on juice. Once it recharges, it ... Read more
For real couch potatoes.
(Credit: Keita Watanabe & Shota Matsuda)You know how, during the two minutes or so that you're waiting for your microwave popcorn to pop, you find yourself thinking, "If only I could be watching a video on YouTube right now"? No? Oh. Well, if you ever do find yourself wanting to take advatage of those few moments of forced waiting, you'll love the idea behind the CastOven.
From the developers' Web site: "Watching movies, playing video games, and browsing Web pages are fun, but all of them require a certain amount of time of us to spare." To solve this problem, this future microwave oven with the 10.4-inch LCD display plays YouTube clips that fit your cooking time.
The concept machine looks ridiculously cool, and you can even watch a demonstration video, in case you're having a hard time understanding how you can cook food and watch videos simultaneously. Props for the design and the presentation, but I'm just not sure there's a real need for
... Read more
(Credit:
Min-Kyu Choi)
We blog about the latest gadgets on Crave, but sometimes the best ideas come from redesigning devices that we use on a daily basis--for example, the standard U.K. three-pin power plug. That's exactly what Min-Kyu Choi of the Royal College of Art in London conjured up for his graduate show upon completing his master's in product design.
His design is a folding plug system inspired by the MacBook Air. According to Choi, the Air is "the world's thinnest laptop," but "we still still use the world's biggest three-pin plug." When people carry laptops with U.K plugs in a bag, he says, the plugs can tear paper, scratch laptop surfaces, and break things.
(Credit:
Min-Kyu Choi)
Choi's plug measures only 10mm wide (just over 3/8 of an inch) when "folded" and features swiveling live and neutral pins. It has a pair of flaps that can be unfolded to complete the standard U.K. plug. What's even better is that the design has inspired him ... Read more
Is this the future of Blu-ray?
(Credit: Amazon)Brace yourselves. Less than two weeks after you open your gifts on Christmas morning, the consumer electronics industry will be reminding you that all those new gadgets--touted as lustworthy just days earlier--are already obsolete.
OK, maybe that's a tad cynical. But it's certainly true that the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas (January 5-10) codifies the trends and sets the bar for what you can expect to see on store shelves for the following 12 months. That's especially true in the home theater category. But before we look forward to the upcoming show, let's take a look back at what we saw in 2009.
As the 2009 show came to an end, we chose the Samsung HT-BD7200 home theater system and the EchoStar "SlingLoaded" HD DVR 922 as the most promising products in the home audio and video realms. The latter product, to date, has yet to make an appearance in the real world (an all too common trend for many high-profile CES
... Read moreI'm not a big fan of small speakers or subwoofers.
They tend to sound, well, small, and most of them squash the life out of films and music.
Thing is, people like tiny speakers and subs, so lots of speaker companies make, and sell tons of iffy-sounding 5.1 systems.
The Definitive Technology ProCinema 600 system.
(Credit: Definitive Technology)But they're not all bad, I've cherry-picked three truly exceptional alternatives from Definitive Technology, Energy Speakers, and Mirage. My complete reviews are all on CNET, but I'll run down the highlights here.
The Definitive Technology ProCinema 600 System is a six-piece package with four 7-inch tall satellite speakers, one 10.5-inch wide center speaker, and a minisubwoofer. The injection-molded mineral-filled polymer cabinets have more of a high-end feel than your typical plastic or fiberboard cabinets. Can you say "rock solid?"
The subwoofer is a conventional, matte-finished medium-density-fiberboard box. It measures 13 by 10.3 by 13 inches. Its side-mounted volume control is a convenient design touch.
The satellites are two-way designs with a 1-inch aluminum-ceramic dome tweeter and a 3.25-inch midrange driver. Ah, but the midrange driver is acoustically coupled to a 3.25-inch pressure-driven planar low-frequency radiator on the top panel (so when the midrange driver moves in, the passive radiator moves out, and vice-versa).
The passive radiator effectively doubles the bass radiating area of the tiny midrange driver. The same technique is employed on the center channel speaker; it has a pair of 3.25-inch midrange drivers flanking a 1-inch tweeter--and there's a 3.25-inch radiator on each side of the speaker.
The subwoofer's 8-inch polymer cone woofer is acoustically coupled to a bottom-mounted 8-inch passive radiator. The combined radiating area of the driver and radiator is almost equivalent to a single 12-inch woofer. This little sub kicks butt!
... Read more
Thanks to Best Buy and Shopper.com for putting together today's enticing prize, an Insignia NS-WBRDVD Blu-ray player that features Wi-Fi connectivity along with Netflix-streaming capabilities (yes, this is a BD-live ready player).
In case you didn't know it, Shopper.com powers CNET's price-comparison engine and is a great site for finding the best prices on products. (See all of Shopper's deals, coupon codes, and rebates).
Normally, the Insignia NS-WBRDVD would cost you about $179, but you have the chance to get it gratis.
So, how do you try to win this Insignia Blu-ray player? Let me enumerate the basic rules. Please read them carefully; there will be a test.
- Register as a CNET user. Go to the top of this page and hit the "Join CNET" link to start the registration process. If you're already registered, there's no need to register again.
- Leave a comment below. You can leave whatever comment you want. If it's funny or insightful it won't help you win, but we're
On Sale Now: $170.99
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(Credit:
True Power)
We have USB outlets on our computers, we have them on our new HDTVs, we even have them in our cars. Why the heck don't we just put 'em right into the wall?
For $10, you can do just that. True Power will ship these bad boys in 2010. They allow for two USB charging ports alongside two traditional U.S. three-prong power plugs.
Read more of USB power outlets for the home; why didn't we think of this? at ZDNet's The ToyBox.
(Credit:
Video screenshot by Tim Hornyak/CNET)
Major Japanese toilet maker Toto has created a talking commode. The new Neo model has a robotic lid that moves in time with its voice, which for some reason is male.
Neo features in a series of short video ads for the Japanese market, apparently as a joke. The videos show Neo chatting with a man about everyday things like relationships and riding Japan Railways trains.
The company's Tototalk campaign promotes the Neo 2 prototype model, which is currently on display in the Caretta Shiodome mall in downtown Tokyo. Check it out in the video below.
Neo 2 is designed to provide every function imaginable, a tongue-in-cheek reference to Japan's highly engineered toilets. Neo 2's ridiculously long armrest features more than 10 buttons. They can make Neo 2 tell jokes, give the weather forecast, or display an outsize bum scrubber.
The same functions can be controlled via a real-time Web link and Webcam at the Tototalk Web site.
In one joke, Neo talks about the ... Read more
