The Best Gizmodo Features of 2008 [Feature]

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Here is a list of the very best 2008 Gizmodo Features. We all worked very hard to push features forward this year, and looking back, it looks like our efforts were well worth it. Enjoy!


January
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Holy Crap: Did Bill Gates Just Say Windows Sucks? [The first time in history Gates admitted (indirectly) on camera that Vista was not great. And we got it.]
How To Discover Secret Gadgets Through the FCC [It's not that we can't crawl the FCC, its that we don't want to.]
Best LEGO Sets in History [The best in the year of the brick]
LEGO Brick Timeline: 50 Years of Building Frenzy and Curiosities [Another addiction for JD]
10 Examples of the iPhone Making People Crazy
The Truth About the Format War and HD DVD's Demise [Secret: HD DVD was the more thoughful format.]
The Best of CES 2008 [For all that noise, there wasn't much.]
1960s Braun Products Hold the Secrets to Apple's Future [The past is now]
Complete Uncut Gizmodo Bill Gates Interview [Our exclusive Bill Gates video interview, in its complete form.]
Ten Reasons We're Doomed: CES Edition [CES is a victim of its own success and greatness, and I've still never met a single person who enjoys the show.]
February
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The Analog Cellphone Timeline [Jesús Diaz timelines and Trinitron are some of my favorite things.]
Stop! Why It Still Isn't Safe to Buy Blu-ray [Probably no longer true, but still great for its day!]
10 Feasible Concepts We Wish You Could Actually Buy [This is when we learned how good Sean was at lists.]
The Biggest Star Wars Collection in the Galaxy [The man's Star Wars addiction in its early stages]
Nokia's Touch UI Hands-On: Officially Way Behind Apple [At MWC in Barcelona, with Jesús]
Gizmodo Super Bowl XLII Tech Commercial Awards
March
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Technosexual: One Man's Tale of Robot Love
Sony XEL-1 OLED TV Review (Verdict: Small on Size, Large on Beauty) [Wish we did more reviews like this. Totally unattainable, but totally lust worthy.]
Comcast n' BitTorrent BFF: What's Good, What Sucks
Dash Express GPS Full Drive Review: Total Traffic Terminator [Given the company's financial troubles, I wish we hadn't recommended it without some reservations.]
Whole Blu World: The Format War's Bloody Aftermath
Apple TV vs. Vudu vs. Xbox 360: Video Download Battlemodo [Ah the infinite format war, reviewed in battle.]
Sony Trinitron Timeline Shows Why It Will Live Forever In Our Hearts
Axiotron ModBook Review (Verdict: A Touchscreen MacBook Done Right) [I still can't figure out if a Mac tablet makes sense.]
April
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Casio Exilim EX-F1 Slow-Mo Super Cam Full Review (Verdict: Totally Unique, Shockingly Powerful) [One of the most revolutionary cameras of the year.]
Giz Explains: Plasma TV Basics [Matt starts hitting his stride with Giz Explains here.]
Giz Explains: Digital Camera Image Sensors
The Ultimate Cheap Camera Battlemodo
Ten Things You Need to Know About the Optimus Maximus Keyboard Hardware [Never loved this keyboard, but I respect it as art.]
Will Your ISP F You In the A? Bandwidth Hogs Beware [Matt has a potty mouth that is as sharp as it is filthy.]
May
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How to Love a LEGO Lunatic [Addy!]
Giz Explains: OLED, the Future of TV
Subnotebook vs. UMPC vs. Netbook: WTF Is the Difference? [I still can't tell the difference and have to ask Mark every time.]
10 Awesome Grills You Can Buy For The Ultimate Memorial Day BBQ
MacHEADS: The Movie Interview
Giz Explains: An Easy Primer on GPS
First Netflix Streaming Box Review, $100 and Unlimited Downloads! [The first of many Netflix enabled devices. If only they'd get grade-A releases, they'd be the only service I'd ever want.]
Wii Fit Review By a Formerly Fit Geek [Before Wii Fit.]
Gadgets That Are Guaranteed Date Disasters
Giz Explains LCD TV Basics
Full-Screen Multitouch Mac OS X Is Here (But Not from Apple)
June
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Things No One Gives Microsoft Credit For (But Should) [Part of the Bill Gates Retirement Party, which was astoundingly fun to work on.]
Bill Gates' Made Men: The Wild 'n' Crazy Ventures of the Microsoft Millionaires
Giz Explains: How the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation Will Save the World
Story of a Peanut: The TiVo Remote's Untold Past, Present and Future
iPhone Clone Battlemodo: Which One Is the iPhoniest?
Why I Still Use Windows Despite the Peer Pressure [I like Adam's essay, especially the end where he chalks it up to being lazy.]
A Night With Bill Gates' New Big Hairy Vision [Bill Gates thinks I'm dumb.]
Samsung Instinct Review: Best Sprint or Samsung Phone Ever
3G iPhone Hands On [It's ok.]
State of The Infinite Format War: Get Ready for Five Long Years of Set-Top Battle Royale [I think we were the first to recognize that a two format war is nothing compared to the format war between download services.]
Giz Explains: Mac OS 10.6 Snow Leopard Parallel Processing and GPU Computing [Apple is crazy smart for not improving their OS with BS, but trying to fine tune the back end.]
How To Launch an Apple Product in 5 Easy Steps [Sad but true, and effective.]
The Ultimate Cheap Camcorder Battlemodo
How I Sold My iPhone in 24 Hours For More Than I Paid
Exclusive Video: How Lego Builds the Minifigs [Part of Jesús's exclusive visit to Lego HQ]
Exclusive: Inside the Lego Factory
65-foot-high Lego Cathedrals Store 19 Billion Pieces a Year
Lego Secret Vault Contains All Sets In History
July
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The True Story of the Hurricane Katrina Lightning-Laser Memorial and the Peg-Leg Biologist [This post didn't do well for whatever reason.]
Giz Explains: An Illustrated Guide to Every Stupid Cable You Need
Verizon FiOS: How They're Futurizing TV Faster Than AT&T and Big Cable
Steve Jobs Says He Doesn't Have Cancer (And Why It's Not Your Business Anyway) [I'm fine speculating on the man's health, but not because of its effect on share holder wealth. Sorry, that's greedy. Sell the stock if you have a problem.]
Why We Still Need the iPhone App Black Market [It's still true.]
The Dark Knight Review: Even Gadgets Can't Stop The Joker's Madness [Best gadget movie of 2008]
iPhone 3G Review
iPhone 2.0 Software Review: Forget 3G, It's Code That Counts [Absolutely true; the iPhone 3G would be nothing without the new firmware.]
Fantasy Gadget: The Ultimate Next Generation Connected TiVo Box
What Doesn't Break a Toughbook Makes It Stronger: How They Test the Hell Out of Them [From Japan]
Gizmodo's Ultimate Water Gun Battlemodo Royale [Reminded me a bit of the Top Gun volleyball scene when the dudes got out the white t shirts and slow motion camera, except ours was even more erotic.]
August
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How it Feels to Fly a Jetpack [Mark drove to an airshow a few hours away and RODE A JETPACK! Of course we had to do this first person.]
MS Paint Gadget Fantasies are as Twisted as They are Unlikely
Giz Explains: Batteries, Tech's Choke Point
AT&T's Internal Plans To Fix Their Network [I hear the exec quoted here got a bit of heat because I headlined "fixed", which implies broken. Anyone who calls my house on my ATT line will know why I said that.]
Cranky Windows Guy: Apple's iPhone Bugs Stopped Me From Switching to a Mac [Adam knows how to kick up a shit storm, any day of the week.]
Motorola Insider Blame Game: Engineers Shoved Designers Aside [Brendan K., one of my favorite writers of this generation.]
Giz Explains: The Magic Behind Touchscreens
When Good Firmware Goes Bad... And Why You Should Wait To Update
Secret Origin of the OLPC: Genius, Hubris and the Birth of the Netbook [This epic tale of the OLPC's development was not successfully received by readers (probably for lack of a news peg) but it was fun to work on and over 10k words, I believe.]
OLPC Origins: US and Taiwan's Hardware Lovechild
OLPC Origin: Bittersweet Success and Future of the XO Laptop
September
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150-Inch TV In Action: It'll Melt Brains and Empty Wallets [Giz exclusive, a day of play on a 150-inch plasma.]
Why Android Will Soon Kick Ass [Half of us were for Android, and this is the piece we came up with in response to Jesús's rant against it.]
How Criterion Hones Its Restoration Magic for HD [Did you know people complain about high def film grain as compression noise?]
How Many Google Phone Engineers Does It Take to Tell the Time? [Here's the Jesús rant against Android's UI.]
What Does LASIK Really Feel Like? [I almost have 20/10 vision now!]
Review: EFiX Dongle Perfectly Transforms PC to Mac
Giz Explains: Why HD Video Downloads Aren't Very High Def [Spoiler: compression.]
7 Years of iPod: What You Paid and What You Got [Tech evolving and trickling down, in time line form]
90 Gadget Cross Promotions That Would Seriously Damage Some Brands [One of Adam's best photochop contests]
Why I Hate Netbooks [Mark vs. Mark]
Why I Love Netbooks
Is Steve Jobs Preparing His Farewell [Jesús has pre-cog powers!]
October
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Smartphone Is a Dumb Word: We Need a New Name [I should start using the word com. Pretty nerdy, but it makes sense.]
Why It's Safer Than Ever To Buy First-Generation Hardware [I stand by this!]
Giz Explains: Why Windows 7 Will Smash Vista
T-Mobile G1 Google Android Phone Review [Spoiler: Important but meh.]
Why Zen Software Design Does Not Come From Japan [Lisa K.]
Windows 7 Walkthrough, Boot Video and Impressions [Wilson gives us the first major presentation of the next Windows]
My Favorite Childhood Sci-Fi Author Fries My Brain
Giz Explains: How to Choose an HDTV Like a Pro
The Truth About the Apple Tax [Matt broke down the actual extra cost involved with Apple gear vs comparable PC gear running Windows. ]
MacBook and MacBook Pro Dual Review
Internet TV Remote: Quick Links to Free Streaming Shows
Zero-Cost Gadget Upgrades For the Next Great Depression
November
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This is My Farewell Transmission From Mars [Part of an amazing guest edit by the Phoenix Mars Lander, via Veronica McGregor, from NASA, where we have the Phoenix Lander blogging in first person. As it dies!]
How To Calibrate Your New HDTV (and Not Lose Your Mind)
How to Buy an HDTV Today (or Any Day)
A Call for Revolution Against Beta Culture [Jesús wrote this as a follow up to the Why It's Safer to Buy 1st Gen post, saying just because you can upgrade/fix by firmware, doesn't mean its right that companies come out with shitty stuff out of the gate.]
A Complete Guide to Playing Video Files On Your PS3, Xbox 360 or Wii
BlackBerry Storm Review (Verdict: Not Quite a Perfect Storm)
Mobile Browser Battlemodo: Which Phones Deliver The Real Web
10 Things You Should Know About The New Xbox Experience
30 Mars Phoenix Discoveries NASA Will Never Show the World
What it Feels Like to Drive a Tesla Roadster [It's fast, but not faster than some gas vehicles I love.]
The Wii Fit Review: Six Months Later [After Wii Fit!]
Review: The World's Thinnest LCD HDTVs [Drool.]
How To: Max Out Apple TV's Potential With Boxee [I like Boxee, but would prefer to run it lag free with HD content on a Mac mini,]
Happy Birthday Saturn V, Still The Biggest Rocket of All
The 50 Skills Every Geek Should Have [Adam made us proud on this list. First draft was a little too easy but the final list was challenging to all.]
Giz Explains: What's So Awesome About 64-Bit?
Why You Should Buy a Refurbished Laptop
25 Features You Definitely Won't See in Windows 7 [Photochop!]
Prof. Dealzmodo: Why You Should Stop Buying Your Computers Fully Loaded and Why You Should Buy a Refurbished Laptop [Sean breaking out of lists!]
December
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The Definitive Coast-to-Coast 3G Data Test [Who else is going to run around 8 cities testing 3G data rates for you from all three major 3G carriers?]
120 Feet of Video Art: Final Exams at NYU's Big Screens Class [A wall of motion art, as homework. That's an assignment I could have fun with.]
Silver-Painted Plastic Gadgets Must Die
Dealzmodo Hacks: 8 Ways To Get More Miles Out Of Your Old PC
What Beautiful Future Gadgets Will Be Made Of [Ceramic, wood, more metal, and plastic. But not painted plastic.]
Why Kids Deserve Crappy Gadgets This Holiday
Dealzmodo Hack: Make Your Old USB Stick Into a Digital Multitool
Gizmodo Gallery, our little museum presentation of the best gadgets we could find, small and big.
Choose Your Own Apple Adventure
See how the features progressed towards being bigger and better towards the end of 2008? I feel like a proud papa. And next year is going to be even better. Happy New Years everyone, thanks for reading our features.


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