Up Front: A Celebration of 50 Years of Innovation

Innovations: 25 New Products That Are Anything but Ordinary

Herewith, the winners of PC World's Innovations Awards for 2006. For our complete report, plus "The 50 Greatest Gadgets of the Last 50 Years," visit our Consumer Electronics Show Info Center.

• AIRGO TRUE MIMO GEN3: Technology for superfast Wi-Fi.
• APPLE IPOD NANO: Irresistibly stylish, it lives up to the hype.
• AVVENU: Free remote access to files, from a PC or handheld.
• CREATIVE ZEN VISION: A video handheld we'd actually buy.
• FUJITSU LIVEBOOK P1510D: Superportable Tablet PC.
• GOOGLE EARTH: Both amazingly useful and just plain amazing.
• JVC EVERIO GZ-MG70: With its built-in hard disk, this under-size DV camcorder dispenses with tapes and discs.
• JVC RX-D702B: A reasonably priced receiver for the digital age.
• KODAK EASYSHARE V570: One compact camera, two lenses.
• MAXTOR SHARED STORAGE PLUS: 500GB of network storage.
• MICROSOFT XBOX 360: Next-gen console-based entertainment.
• MITSUBISHI HC3000U: The first projector featuring Texas Instruments' aptly named BrilliantColor technology.
• NEC MULTISYNC LCD2180WG-LED: Stunning LED backlighting makes for the ultimate desktop display.
• NINTENDO NINTENDOGS: Cute canines in a serious simulation.
• NOKIA N91: A more highly evolved approach to camera phones.
• PANASONIC OXYRIDE: Today's power-hungry gadgets need these long-life AA and AAA batteries.
• SLING MEDIA SLINGBOX: Slings your TV shows across the Net.
• SONOS DIGITAL MUSIC SYSTEM: Elegant music streaming.
• SONY CYBER-SHOT DSC-R1: Takes point-and-shoot photography to the next level--and packs 10.3 megapixels.
• SONY DVDIRECT VRD-MC1: Burns DVDs with (or without) a PC.
• SONY HANDYCAM HDR-HC1: Puts HD video within reach.
• TIVOTOGO: Sends your shows to a PC, a DVD, or a handheld.
• TOSHIBA RD-XS54: A DVD recorder that does it all.
• YAMAHA RX-V4600: This top-notch receiver offers HD radio.
• YAMAHA YSP-1000: One slick audio box that outdoes multiple-speaker surround-sound setups.

Harry McCracken is PC World's editor in chief.