Best Inventions of 2008
From a genetic testing service to an invisibility cloak to an ingenious public bike system to the world's first moving skyscraper — here are TIME's picks for the top innovations of 2008
Full List
Invention of the Year
The Other 49 Best Inventions
- 2. The Tesla Roadster
- 3. The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter
- 4. Hulu.com
- 5. The Large Hadron Collider
- 6. The Global Seed Vault
- 7. The Chevy Volt
- 8. Bullets That Shoot Bullets
- 9. The Orbital Internet
- 10. The World's Fastest Computer
- 11. Green Crude
- 12. Housing Funds
- 13. The Memristor
- 14. The Bionic Hand
- 15. The Direct-to-Web Supervillain Musical
- 16. The Dynamic Tower
- 17. The Mobile, Dexterous, Social Robot
- 18. The New Mars Rover
- 19. Montreal's Public Bike System
- 20. The Everything Game
- 21. The Synthetic Organism
- 22. The Shadowless Skyscraper
- 23. The Branded Candidate
- 24. Bionic Contacts
- 25. Thin-Film Solar Panels
- 26. The Speedo LZR Racer
- 27. Bubble Photography
- 28. The Invisibility Cloak
- 29. The 46th Mersenne Prime
- 30. The Internet Of Things
- 31. Einstein's Fridge
- 32. Facebook for Spies
- 33. Biomechanical Energy Harvester
- 34. Made-in-Transit Packaging
- 35. Airborne Wind Power
- 36. The New Ping-Pong Serve
- 37. Smog-Eating Cement
- 38. The Baseball Instant Replay
- 39. Enhanced Fingerprints
- 40. The Seven New Deadly Sins
- 41. The Peraves MonoTracer
- 42. Disemvoweling
- 43. High-Tech Running Shoes
- 44. Sunscreen for Plants
- 45. The Short Refinance
- 46. Aptera Electric Car
- 47. Google's Floating Data Center
- 48. The Time Eater Clock
- 49. Sound-Enhanced Food
- 50. A Camera For the Blind
Tech Buyer's Guide
Gadget of the Year
- Sanyo Xacti HD1010
- Peek
- Flip Mino
- Wii Fit
- Eye-Fi Explore SD Card
- Dash Express
- T-Mobile G1
- MacBook
- Canon PowerShot A590 IS
- iPod Touch
Video
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