Next Gear Innovations Awards: Tech Visionaries

The worlds of the PC and of consumer electronics have met head-on, and their interchange has created a flood of fresh, interesting products. As these hybrids grow more numerous, we've found ourselves admiring products that apply good old-fashioned computing power in innovative ways. Many of these entertainment-driven devices have PC-like functions, but they push the limits of technology.

Inspired by this, we recently scoured the Net, cruised the aisles of electronics stores, and looked at cool stuff we've reviewed over the year to identify the most ingenious and most inventive products. Of course, PC World never takes any product at face value, no matter how neat-looking the device, so we subjected the products to intensive hands-on evaluations. Our aim was to discover trendsetting devices and reward them for their progressive design and function.

After a careful search, we narrowed the field to 17 standouts, and bestowed on them our Next Gear Innovations Awards. Whether the selections are benchmark products that other companies copy or breakthrough products that have yet to be imitated, all of them are winners.