The 100 Best Products of 2008

The 100 Best Products, Numbers 81 through 90

81. YouTube (viral video site, free) Sure, the video quality won't remind you of the Criterion Collection, but the advertising on the site is scarcely noticeable, and the sheer amount and variety of content available for viewing at YouTube are utterly astonishing. Review

82. Chestnut Hill Sound George (iPod speaker dock, $499) Of the many iPod speaker docks clamoring for consumer attention, this one strikes our ears as the biggest-sounding and best. Site

83. Microsoft Office 2007 (office suite, $150-$680, depending on edition) Microsoft's workhorse troika of productivity apps (Word, Excel, and PowerPoint) won't thrill anyone (and we're still waiting for Microsoft to put some of their power online), but the suite's overhaul last year made creating nice-looking documents far easier. Review | Check prices

84. Intel "SkullTrail" Dual Socket Extreme Desktop (motherboard, $650) Run multiple CPUs or graphics cards on this bad mother...board. Review | Check prices

86. AT&T Tilt 8925 by HTC (smart phone, $400 with two-year AT&T wireless contract) This uber-phone bowls you over with features like a QWERTY keyboard, office apps, Wi-Fi, GPS, and stereo Bluetooth for music headphones. Review

87. Canon PowerShot SD1100 IS (digital camera, $250) This pocketable 8-megapixel camera offers a feature set and a level of image quality that you'd expect of a far more expensive camera. Review | Check prices

88. Vizio GV42LF (42-inch LCD HDTV, $1200) This roomy 1080p LCD HDTV beats almost the entire plasma television crowd in picture quality--and it does so at a far, far lower price. Review | Check prices

89. Apple MacBook Air (ultraportable laptop, $1799) No optical drive, no Penryn chip, only one USB port, no ethernet port, and merely average performance. So would you like to own an Air? You bet, because it's cool. Review | Video review | Check prices

90. Ubuntu Linux (operating system, free) Linux isn't just for nerds anymore, thanks to Ubuntu's Microsoft-refugee-friendly distribution. But hard-core (hard-kernel?) Linux devotees will surely note that Ubuntu earns a spot on our list while Windows Vista doesn't. Review | Download