The Best Inventions Of The Year

From the phone that has changed phones forever, to futuristic cars, to a building made of water, to a remote-controlled dragonfly—a dazzling display of ingenuity

By Maryanne Murray Buechner, Kristina Dell, Andrea Dorfman, Lev Grossman, Anita Hamilton, Rebecca Winters Keegan, Jeffrey Kluger, Michael D. Lemonick, Coco Masters, Lisa McLaughlin, Alice Park, Julie Rawe and Deirdre van Dyk

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Why buy a six-piece system when there's one box that does it all? The Yamaha YSP-3000 (above and right, $1,200) delivers amazing "virtual" surround sound without a separate receiver or subwoofer. It's also not much bigger than a piece of firewood, so it can sit on a shelf with your TV set. Want to spend less? The Philips HTS8100 ($800) includes a DVD player slyly hidden behind the front panel.
yamaha.com; usa.philips.com

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