The Greatest Tech Developments of the Past Decade

There has been an explosion in technological developments over the past decade, but not all of them are as important as the others. That is why we decided to come up with a list of the greatest technological developments over the past decade, as to honor those technologies that improved our lives and the industry.

So, without further ado, let’s get right into it.

Digital Camera

The digital camera was, at first, a turn off for traditional film photographers, but now it is a common thing. This new medium allowed photographers to shoot, process, and print photographs much faster than ever thought possible, and, with it, inspired a new generation to get out and take photographs for themselves. Now we have cameras on our phones, our computers, and many other devices that we take for granted, but the digital camera really made it possible this all possible.

E-Book Reader

The thing that everyone seems to want these days is an e-book reader, and we have Amazon and the Kindle to thank for making this concept come to life. No longer are forced to deal with large, clunky books that take up shelf space. Instead, we can store thousands of books on a small device that reads just as good as a book, without having to flip the page. Granted, book publishers are still waging war over e-book pricing and rights (unwilling to switch to a different model of business, sound familiar?), but was is a necessary step for the publishing industry had take. The e-reader will ensure that books will live on, and if that means less paper and more digital, we’re fine with that.

MySpace

MySpace has, admittedly, turned out to be a disaster for Newscorp and Tom, but people must realize that, without MySpace, none of what we have today might have been possible. As a result, MySpace is the site that truly connected people together online, and we all know everyone wanted to spend hours pimping out their MySpace profiles at one point (yours truly as well). Lately, the service has been trying to reinvent itself without much success, but it will always be remembered as the one that pioneered online social network.

Facebook

If MySpace was the one that created the door to social networking, Facebook was the one that built the house around it and threw the biggest house parties too. The social media giant has only managed to grab the attention of over 400,000 people around the globe, and it was the first social network that really emphasized connecting with friends. And while Facebook is now plagued with privacy concerns and an identity crisis, yet the social network is still growing strong. It really is by a household name.

Twitter

Twitter is a pretty big deal, and while many still shy away at the thought of ever using Twitter, the fact still remains that Twitter played a huge part in many of the newer web-based applications we have today. Twitter has essentially promoted the concept of being always connected with people. It is a network that provides a living, breathing conversation about the world, and it is also a pioneer in real-time communication. Who ever could have thought it would have been normal to “tweet” each other?

iPhone

The iPhone is one of the coolest gadgets that have come out within the past decade for many reasons, but the primary reason is that the iPhone broke the chain of mobile providers having complete control over what you could do with your phone, and it popularized the concept of phone applications. Sure, there were others before it — Palm, Windows Mobile, Blackberry — but the Apple’s iPhone made this a reality for the everyday consumer instead of only business executives. The iPhone continues to push the limits of what we can do on the phone, and it is truly a computer in your pocket.

Google

Is it really shocking to see Google on this list? Well, Google is on the list and for numerous reasons: Google mastered search, online advertising, online productivity tools, and the idea that “free” can be very profitable. Google is one of the greatest companies in the world right now, and they did it by being completely different from all their competition. Google not only changed business, they changed the way people find and use information on the Internet. And they also have Android and Chrome OS coming along too. Who knows what will come next?

Broadband

Remember AOL? I try not to. And why should we, because many of us have been blessed with broadband connections that blow narrowband away. While broadband has been available for more than a decade, only this past decade did it really start growing, and it also became affordable and accessible to millions. This alone is probably the greatest technological achievement in the past decade.