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The new Millennium got off to a great start where the world of gadgetry was concerned. For our 20 best we selected only actual gadgets—no websites like YouTube or Facebook, no software programs and no innovative companies like Netflix. From listening to music to trips to the lavatory, each of these gadgets has made life a little more enjoyable. Congrats to the inventors—now quit dawdling on the video-camera watch and the personal jetpack.
20. Jabra Bluetooth Earpiece (2000)
For months after Jabra’s bluetooth headset hit the market, we were all freaked out by the people wandering around in public talking to themselves. And while this advancement has certainly led to an increase in douchy behavior, it’s also probably saved countless lives, freeing hands for that all important thing called steering. Josh Jackson
19. Griffin iTrip (2003)
Soon after the iPod, there was the iTrip, wirelessly transmitting those early playlists to the car stereo via radio waves and with an Apple-worthy sleek design. Josh Jackson
18. Xlerator Hand Dryer (2003)
As mankind ventures further into the technological wonders of Tomorrowland, let us never forget that it’s the small things that matter most. Humans continue to streamline lavatory visits with as little hand contact as possible. It seems like it all started with the automatic paper towel dispenser, whirring out your hand-drying needs one, sometimes two sheets at a time. It didn’t take long before the rest of the restroom appliances caught on. Now toilets flush on their own, sinks spit out water with a finger’s flick and even soap dispensers need no button-pushing. But just when we thought a trip to the restroom couldn’t get any easier, along came the Xlerator, a super-powerful hand dryer that actually gets your hands dry, rather than making you wait 15 seconds before you give up and wipe them on your pants. Gage Henry
17. USB Flash Drive
The floppy disk of this decade, the USB flash drive is the most compact, portable data storage device used by PCs and Macs alike (and unlike many predecessors, no pre-formatting is necessary). The affordable and simple gadget has become one of the most essential computer tools that we use and is so ubiquitous you can buy it in any color or shape imaginable, including R2-D2, Predator or a replica human thumb. Emily Reimer
16. Bose QuietComfort Noise-Cancelling Headphones
While noise-canceling headphones have been available to pilots since the 1950s, this decade they finally fell into the hands of the consumer, providing a sonic refuge from the surrounding chaos. And since the headphones give listeners the ability to “turn down the noise” before turning up the volume, they also help prevent hearing damage—good news for music fans of all ages. Kevin Keller
15. Flip Video Ultra (2007)
Cheap enough that my 11-year-old daughter could save up for it herself and easy enough that she could make movies with it, the Flip video camera made a mockery of the $500 camcorder with which we filmed her childhood. Josh Jackson
14. Sonos Multi-Room Music System (2004)
Sonos changed what the term “home stereo” really meant, channeling your music to every nook where the mood for a little Mastodon might strike. Josh Jackson
13. Dyson Air Multiplier (2009)
The wow factor is still fresh in our minds for Dyson’s new magic-looking bladeless fan. Released just last month, it is superior to the bladed fan (what we used to just call “the fan”) in just about every way. Josh Jackson
12. Apple Airport Express (2004)
Steve Jobs first wowed us with the Airport in July of 1999, browsing the Internet from his laptop with no wires before a stunned MacWorld Expo crowd in New York. In 2004, the airport got an upgrade, letting you stream iTunes wirelessly through the house. And, because it was Apple, even your router looked sexy.
11. Sony Playstion 3/Blu-ray (2006)
Though Warner’s announcement that it would no longer release movies on HD-DVD effectively ended the decade’s biggest format war, Blu-ray’s victory also owes some credit to Sony’s latest-gen gaming device, which along with the XBox 360 ushered in an era of mind-blowing graphics. And with the price of 1080p HDTVs coming down, watching movies at home will never be the same. Josh Jackson
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Being that the iPhone is an iPod with a phone, Doesn't that make it number 1?
Completely shortsighted... best invention was the garage door opener... :-)
Great list you've got there! iPod/iTouch truly deserve its spot as #1.
Without out the iPod becoming as popular as it did the iPhone never exists. Thats why it's number 1. Ditto for the iPod touch.
Seriously.. what the fuck. XBox 360? Are you kidding me?
You know Playstation 2 had online gaming long before the Xbox, right? Xbox is quite possibly the biggest piece of shit to be sold to the gaming community in the history of gaming. The fail rate is through the freaking roof. How can this possibly make the list?
I agree with the iPod being number 1. That thing is so popular.
The iPhone should be number 1.
I'm sorry but am I the only one that thinks the most important creation over the past decade was broadband? or was it created years upon years ago?
"Never before had you been able to meet foul-mouthed teenagers while playing video games without, you know, going to an arcade."
Or playing a computer game?
The best of the bunch for me has to go to the Flip Video Ultra. Amazon's Kindle and the Xbox 360 are next on my must have gadget list!
Great round up.
Karl
Are you kidding me? The garage door opener was invented in the last 10 years? Read the friggin title.
Also, the iPhone is just an improvement on the iPod. It was the iPod that required the ingenuity and creativity.
ummm--xbox by no means invented online console play. there were modems for snes etc way early, but 9/9/99 sega dreamcast came with a modem built in. ask anyone who played nfl 2k...online play and shittalking is NOT new with this generation of systems.
This article comes off as an advertisement for certain brands.
Really well done. Great choices; pithy reviews. Agree with #1 choice of iPod.
Really weak list. Looks like written by Apple fanboy with short memory. WiFi became popular with devices from Netgear and Asus (WL-500g).
What about:
- Roomba - robot vacuum cleaner
- Electric bicycles - only recently became practical due to high capacity batteries like LiPo
- Segway, Eni-cycle, Honda U3-X
- Quadcopters
- Wingsuit - parachute suit for flying
- Digital cameras - existed before 2000 but only got cheap/popular in the 2000'es
- LED light-bulb - still weak but coming on strong.
- Coffee pads espresso/coffee machines. Philips Senseo, Nespresso etc. this has become big business.
- HD flat screen LCD/plasma TV
- DVB TV receiver - analogue TV phase out
- Home theatre surround-sound
- DVD DVR and later BluRay DVR
- VoIP as a phone handset device
And further:
- GHz CPUs - AMD Athlon 1GHz launched 2000-03-06
- High speed electrical cars - Eliica drove 370km/h in 2004.
Bizarre. Like someone's Amazon wish list - personal, pointless and without general application. Why did someone bother publishing this? No iPhone?
Awesome! thanks!
The iPod controls the market now, but would have been nothing special without iTunes the software and later iTunes the store (as recognized in the article), and since software and websites are excluded from the list, that should take the iPod off of your list. Be honest. The hardware was just another MP3 player.
Apple corrupted you, fysj. Or Amazon, who knows, who cares, all this stuff are for lazy people anyways.
I am so wrong If I say that capitalism is a democratic system?? Or that it should be?
Got to say the PlayStation2 had far more impact than the PS3 and Xbox combined.
Otherwise a good list, though it's a little too early to judge the Kindle as a big hit. I'm sure its successors will be, though.
What? Kindle over iPhone? Are you out of your Vulcan mind?
If this article is a serious indication of the site's content quality, I will not be coming back.
Oh lighten up! Maybe curling up with a textbook will make you feel less like the rest of us dim-witted, gadget whores. Anyway, the article's purpose is not to arm you with enough knowledge for a PhD in gadgetry, but rather to provide a forum for us to pick apart our fellow Paste Peanut Gallery, right? Who here doesn't love a little iPod, iTouch, iPhone pissing match?
Wait! I'm just kidding. Kind of. There are so many substantive articles for you to enjoy around the site. And scads upon oodles of excellent, new music. Don't go away mad. Don't go away at all! This lousy top 10 gadget article is just one of those silly, little things that people do when they start to dread the moment where we collectively hold the pillow tight over the face of the last decade. Nostalgia about the best gadgets, records and boob jobs -oh my!.....Come on, it's fun!
Perhaps you didn't want to put Dyson on the list twice (though you had no problem doing that with Apple - not that I did either), but the Dyson Airblade is a far superior hand dryer to the Xlerator....
What is the dyson air multiplier doing on the list? Apart from the 'cool' factor of a fan with no blades they have nothing going for them. They're loud, move less air then a standard fan and cost a small fortune.
Useless device. Have you actually tried using one of these things or did you just read dyson's advertising blurb and decide it is the new sliced bread... Yeah, thought so.
i dugg your posy @ Digg.com
You have a wonderful collections of Gadgets list of Decade. Wonderful..
yup, ipod/iphone counts as 1
so maybe space for those USBCELL reusable batteries given so many of these top gadgets consumer so many batteries, particularly at christmas
Android is now pursuing dominance iPhone, unfortunately this happened at the end of the decade ..
That fanless fan looks pretty cool! I gotta get my hands on one of those!
I could actually use another one of those ipods, last one i had i dropped it off a ladder... it wasen't pretty!
http://reviewking-reviews.blogspot.com/
That Dyson Bladeless fan looks awesome! That would be a gift everyone would get a kick out of - it's just so remarkable!
The worlds first I-Pod was released in 1995 and was built in Australia by a company strangely enough called I-Pod.
And it was advertised as an i-Pod its purpose was to be an internet /information kiosk. hence the letter i
'and the word Pod had nothing to do with HAL from the movie as the movie had not been written or made at this time. It was used to infer a pod like a seed pod full of good ideas.
The bottom line is Apple computers and Steve Jobs did not come up with the name I Pod. it was Hugh Gray and if anyone wishes to check the facts they can check online the business names register at Qld.gov.au apple are aware of this if this and to dat have not paid out one penny to the original inventor who still has Authors copyright over the name. it may be of interest that the use of the letter I as in i-Pod was used by the ipod company in Australia , even before Mr Jobs used it on his I mac credit where credit is due. Steve Give the original guy who came up with the name the credit for it even if you don't want to do the right thing AND PART WITH A FEW DOLLARS
AND YES MR GRAY IS STILL STRUGGLING and coming up with new ideas all the time ideas that you could have if you do the right thing But I still wish you and all your staff and all the readers a merry Christmas and a happy new year for 2010
Come on guys.. The Xbox 360 really kick started online gaming on consoles. I had the PS2 but never played it online, and the PS2 was more an extra time spender when you didn't feel like playing on the computer. Xbox 360 changed that and moved most gaming from the comfort of your fat chair to the couch in your living room. Back before the Xbox 360 all eyes was on what was to come out in games to the PC, now most eyes are on console games.
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