It's nearing the end of the year, and as we begin to celebrate the holidays, wrap up any business in the calendar year and set expectations for next year, it's worth taking a minute to look back: What did 2012 bring us?
In some cases, it's improvements on an old classic -- from baby monitors to thermostats, cameras to calendar apps, these products that are necessities in daily life are still around, but some entrepreneurs have set out to make them better. We appreciate that, and 's Innovation Index brings recognition to these tools that really stand out and caught our eye. Then, there's a few totally new inventions. Google Glass, the wearable computer isn't in our hands quite yet, and Microsoft Surface, a device that truly caught us by surprise.
While many of these products have made their way into Mashable's coverage before, the Innovation Index nominees were handpicked by our curators, 15 experts and leaders in various fields. We approached each of our 15 curators and tasked them with selecting the most notable, impressive and innovative items that stood out to them.
An innovation stands out because we're impressed when we lay eyes on it. This is perhaps because it does something for us that wasn't possible before, and is inherently useful. Sometimes it's not something we personally use, but opens up new opportunities. Sometimes we're just impressed by the workmanship of the maker.
Take a look at this year's top innovations, gathered together in the gallery above. If you think there's one we missed, let us know in the comments. But don't forget to head over and vote for your favorite innovations -- the deadline is Monday, December 10, when we will be announcing the winners.
Steve Jobs would probably approve of this iPhone dock's elegant simplicity and logical functionality
It's called the OCDock, and it's designed to meld your iPhone and iMac or Thunderbolt display into one seamless, apparently wireless workstation. But first, its parent company, OCDesk, has a mission to complete: this Kickstarter campaign
The crowdfunding quest has until Dec. 22 to reach a goal of $49,000. It's just topped the $40,000 mark
With success a likely outcome, here's what OCDesk says its new dock connector has to offer: The device attaches naturally beneath a standard iMac or Thunderbolt display, appearing more as an organic part of your workstation than just another piece of office clutter. Another slick piece of design work gives the OCDock its wireless appearance -- there's actually an extremely thin cord that runs under your computer's base to connect to a USB port
Microsoft's Surface tablet is currently for sale only via the company's website and brick-and-mortar Microsoft Stores. But the Surface may soon be available in many more places -- and in time for Christmas.
According to Microsoft blogger Paul Thurrott, Microsoft is accelerating its plans to get its Surface RT tablet on the store shelves of major retailers. Citing no sources, Thurrott says the Surface could be landing at some of those stores within the next few days. The company had originally planned to expand retail distribution of Surface in early 2013, but Thurrott says it's decided to "ramp up" that schedule for unknown reasons.
It's a strong promise, but smartphone case company Cellhelmet swears by it. Its line of hefty iPhone cases come with accidental damage coverage, so users can make claims for repair if their device happens to break while using the product.
But, the company stresses, the coverage shouldn't prompt users to try to break their phones
An asterisked section at the bottom of their product page states that the cases are not indestructible, and shouldn't be treated as such. All damage claims, if a user chooses to submit one, are subject to a $50 handling fee.
The travel experience has evolved immensely over the years. Think about it, the biggest luxury at 35,000 feet used to be mediocre meals. Today, you have Wi-Fi access, DirecTV and On Demand programming -- on your own, personal TV! -- that enables you to be productive or entertained while onboard. And remember the travel agent? Your smartphone has replaced him, putting find-the-best-fare abilities in the palm of your hand
The industry continues to evolve rapidly, and that's why Rafat Ali founded Skift, a B2B and B2C content site geared toward sharing travel intelligence, earlier this year
None of the leading mobile browsers have security that's up to snuff, according to researchers at Georgia Tech.
"We found vulnerabilities in all 10 of the mobile browsers we tested, which together account for more than 90% of the mobile browsers in use [in the U.S.]," Patrick Traynor, assistant professor at Georgia Tech's School of Computer Science, said in a school press release.
On mobile browsers, even experts have trouble determining the legitimacy of a website due to the lack of graphic indicators such as a lock icon that show when a browser is using the security protocols secure sockets layer (SSL) or transport layer security (TLS).
It was 3 a.m. on the first day of final exams. While most slept, a small cohort of students, overcome with excitement, locked arms to sing the Auburn University alma mater. The Alabama school, which has recently produced NFL stars named "Cam" and "Cadillac," had just pulled off an earth-shaking upset in an unlikely "sport" — coding.
Auburn University is often thought of as a college football powerhouse, but rarely a programmers paradise. The school showed its diversity, however, when two computer science students placed in the top five of a 500-person coding challenge. Junior Kevin Davis, 20, and sophomore David Shuckerow, 19, placed first and fourth, respectively, in the competition, the participants of which represented more than 80 universities in eight different countries. Davis took home $1,500 for winning the contest.
If you're shopping on the cheap, finding a good deal and a decent phone is tough. You want the best bang for the buck, but it's a minefield of crap out there. It's a tricky business. No worries -- we're here to help.
Best of the Smartphones
The Pantech Flex for AT&T is as good as it gets for an entry-level device. It's compact and lightweight and has a 4.3-inch touch display -- plenty large to e-mail, browse the web and watch videos. But best of all, it runs on AT&T's 4G LTE network, so you can get all the speed and services as the more expensive smartphones.
There has been a significant increase in the presence of social networking buttons on websites. The belief appears to be that users will rejoice in your content so much they will want to share it with their friends, family members or colleagues
Buttons -- Facebook Share and Like, Tweet, Pin and G+ -- theoretically provide users with quick and seamless ways to share content at the click of a button. They also arguably help with search engine optimization, driving traffic from social media sites to your website.
If you thought last summer's Apple v. Samsung patent trial was over, think again. Although the landmark trial resulted in a $1.05 billion victory for Apple, many issues are still outstanding, and this month the two tech giants are back in court to continue their slugfest over intellectual property.
Judge Lucy Koh again asked the two sides to find a middle ground in their dispute. "I think it's time for global peace," Koh said to lawyers representing Apple and Samsung on Thursday, the APreports.
China loves Apple products -- droves of consumers line up to get their hands on the latest devices every time the company releases a new model in the country. But according to the latest reports, the iPad mini launch on Friday failed to bring out the crowds.
IDG News Service is reporting that the turnout for the debut of Apple's 7.9-inch tablet in China was minimal, even in highly-trafficked areas such as Apple's new flagship store in Beijing. The report said the lines were "nearly nonexistent."
The Premium Suite is a software upgrade, bringing several new features (some of which are already present on the Galaxy Note II). These include contextual menus and tags, a multi-window mode that enables you to run two different apps onscreen at the same time and Page Buddy, which automatically performs certain tasks by predicting what you might do next
Other features of note are a Facebook news ticker for the lock screen, and an "Auto Share Shot" mode for the camera, which means you can easily share your photos and vids by tapping the phone with other Samsung devices that use the company's NFC technology, called S Beam.
As we near the end of the year, looking back at Google's top searches will not indicate the biggest cultural or political moments of 2012. It's far simpler than that: Google Trends simply detect why people go online.
The aggregator compiles and graphs the most popular phrases pecked into that search bar, by anybody using Google. The visual representations of this data don't show you the number or percentage of total searches; Google Trends works on a search volume basis, assigning terms a score between 1 and 100. (Note: Overtly sexual searches are omitted from the results.)
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