Top 8 inventions in 2008

Amazon Kindle

Weighing less than a paperback at 10.3 oz, Amazon’s new e-book reader includes 88,000 titles, with all bestsellers listed at $9.99. It can hold 200 titles at one time and has a battery life of up to a week without a recharge. It also includes exclusive subscriptions to top U.S. and international newspapers and magazines, 250 blogs, e-mail capability, and Wikipedia access. It’s a one stop shop for all things literary and it’s all delivered wirelessly in under a minute from the Kindle store.

Solar Powered Bonsai Tree

Eco friendly ipod botanice will be happy to know that the prototype for the solar powered ipod bonsai tree charger has been completed. It won't be available for purchase until 2009, but is too awesome to leave off the list for 2008.

Interactive Mirror

You know the feeling. You try on a shirt at the store and think you look pretty fly, but you need a second opinion. With Social Retailing, developed by Icon Nicholson and shown at Bloomingdale's in March, you can send a video to your friends' cell phones and instantly get their vote. You can also try on outfits virtually using a mirror that shows how fab they might look or not.

GPS Police Tracker

High-speed chases may be money shots in Hollywood, but everywhere else they're just dangerous. The StarChase Pursuit Management System uses a laser-guided launcher mounted on the front grill of a cop car to tag fleeing vehicles with a GPS tracking device. Then the fuzz can hang back as real-time location data are sent to police headquarters.

Ipod Projector

Enough juice for 2 hours of video play, the Optoma ipod projector makes any flat surface your personal movie screen. Contains one mini speaker on the projector to create your theatre eperience. Now all the user has to do is find a flat white wall to view their movie.

Zero Emissions One Wheel Motocycle

Just before his plane dipped into the clouds above Beijing International Airport two years ago, Ben Gulak caught the last clear view of the sun that he would see for two weeks. On the ground, the 17-year-old, who was on a family trip to China, quickly spotted a source for much of the thick haze hanging over the city: smog-spewing motorbikes. Thousands of them, everywhere. “Right then,” he says, “I decided that I wanted to create an alternative mode of transportation, something clean and compact.”

XO Laptop

It's not the most powerful computer you'll ever buy, but it just might help save the world. That's the idea behind the XO Laptop, developed by Nicholas Negroponte of the MIT Media Lab. The stripped-down machine with its sunlight-friendly screen is perfect for kids in the developing world, and the low price encourages governments to buy in bulk.

3G iPhone

In 2008, Apple put out another great product for it's ever exclusive fans. The iPhone turned a normal cell phone into a GPS, iPod, camera, radio, weather channel, paino, calendar, cook book, gaming system, remote control, sudoku pad, web browser, tip calculator, store, fitness trainer, dog whistle, and those are just the applications I downloaded yesterday.