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Gadgets

The 100 Greatest Innovations Of The Year

Popular Science's Best Of What's New Awards, all in one place

By Rafi Letzter

November 22, 2014

Each year, Popular Science picks the 100 greatest new innovations in technology to feature in our Best Of What's New issue. Discover the most exciting developments in consumer gadgets, sustainability, medicine, automobiles and more.

Follow links in the captions to our special Best Of What's New website for in-depth analysis, Q&As, and our Grand Award winners.

Apple Mac Pro — By streamlining cooling into a single aluminum thermal core, the wizards at Apple packed a powerful desktop computer into their smallest package yet.Jonathan Kambouris

Intel 14nm 'Broadwell' Wafer — Speaking of small, this wafer of a processor cuts power consumption by 60 percent and size by half, paving the way for thinner, cooler tablets and laptops.Intel

WiGig — Welcome to the brave new world of 7 gigabyte per second wireless data transfer.Wi-Fi Alliance

Samsung 850 Pro Solid State Drive — A solid state drive with double the endurance.Courtesy Samsung

Corsair Gaming K95 RGB — This mechanical keyboard features 16.8 million possible color combinations from its programmable LED backlights—perfect for the truly hardcore gamer who likes to keep things organized.Jonathan Kambouris

POC Helmet Integrity System — Helmets wear out, but normal ones don't tell you when they do. POC's Helmet Integrity System seeks to change all that.Jonathon Kambouris

Abominable Labs F-BOM — If you ski, you're probably accustomed to the frustration of fog and snow on your goggles. These heated F-BOM goggles provide the solution.Jonathon Kambouris

AvaTech SP-1 — This networked probe aims to crowdsource avalanche safety for skiers.Courtesy AvaTech

Shimano XTR Di2 M9050 — Shimano and Fox created the first integrated, programmable mountain bike, enabling riders to minutely control their rides in new ways.Courtesy Shimano

Zwift — This video game connects to your training bike to let you compete on famous courses with the pros.Courtesy Zwift

94Fifty Smart Sensor Basketball — This basketball networks with your cell phone to quantify your dribble.Courtesy 94Fifty

Vision Aerial SwitchBlade-Pro — Vision Aerial introduces a tricopter, GoPro-capable drone tailored to follow your high-speed exploits.Jonathan Kambouris

Polaris TerrainArmor — The first consumer ATV to feature tires that never go flat.Courtesy Polaris

Acer XB280HK — From Acer: the first 4K monitor to sync framerates in real time with your graphics card, for cinematic gaming.Courtesy Acer

KONE UltraRope — This super-light, super-strong elevator cable cuts the shackles limiting architects' sky-high visions.Courtesy Kone

Whooshh Fish Transport System — Dam lacking a fish ladder? Too broke to build one? Enter the salmon cannon.Whooshh

U.S. Naval Research Lab Electrochemical Acidification Carbon Capture Skid — Seawater is full of carbon dioxide and hydrogen, which just happen to be two key ingredients in hydrocarbon fuels. Soon, this innovation could allow ships to mass-produce their own fuel at sea.U.S. Naval Research Laboratory

Solar Roadways — Solar Roadways wants to turn your street into a giant solar panel, and with serious funding coming their way they might just get it done.Courtesy Solar Roadways

Philips and Green Sense Farms — For the first time, vertical agriculture outperforms its flat, boring cousin.Courtesy Philips

Nikken Sekkei BioSkin — This building wrap fights urban heat island effects, and it looks nice too.Courtesy Nikken

Crabster CR200 — The Korea Research Institute of Ships and Ocean Engineering produced this six-legged, 1,500-pound mechanical underwater robot to help scientists explore parts of the ocean floor inhospitable to divers.Courtesy Korea Research Institute of Ships and Ocean Engineering

Newlight Technologies Aircarbon — Carbon captured from a dairy farm's refuse forms the basis of the plastic in this chair. How's that for recycling?Jonathan Kambouris

Sydney, Australia — Hydroponic gardens are just the first of many biomimicry technologies underpinning this futuristic complex.Rob Deutscher via Flickr/CC BY 2.0

Electric cars are so passé. Electric powertrains are helping brutes like this garbage truck go green.Courtesy Motiv Power Systems

Today's batteries are the least green part of green energy. This non-toxic, scalable, safe, saltwater system could mean a brighter future for energy storage.Courtesy Aquion Energy

This Toronto park recycles rainwater, achieving unprecedented hydroefficiency and fighting flooding.Courtesy Waterfront Toronto

crickets — Cricket cooking culture is on the rise. Read our Q&A with Mario Hernandez of New York City's Black Ant restaurant, one of the chefs driving the bug-eating frenzy.Arpingstone via Wikimedia Commons

Modern generators are hugely inefficient, while remaining critical in wartime and disaster zones. This portable machine takes only a minute's set up before pumping out power, clean water, and communications.Courtesy Ecosphere Technologies

Ford F-150 — America's leading truck for 32 years swapped out steel in its frame for an aluminum alloy that performs even better and cuts 700 pounds from the vehicle's weight.Courtesy Ford

General Motor became the first automaker to offer 4G LTE connectivity at scale.Courtesy GM

Hydrogen fuel cells are no longer science fiction. Toyota's rolling out production FCVs in Japan early next year and in the U.S. in late 2015.Courtesy Toyota

This wireless charging adapter can fit to almost any electric vehicle and allow drivers to skip the plug after a long commute.Courtesy Evatran

Porsche 918 Spyder — This futuristic supercar retains the ability to ramp up from zero to 60 in 2.5 seconds in a hybrid system.Courtesy Porsche

This electric racecar packs the massive torque to outperform Formula One vehicles in some conditions, and its just the beginning.Courtesy Amlin Aguri

This new tire's grooves widen over time, the reverse of other models, letting it grip the road better longer.Courtesy Michelin

The collision detections system in the latest Murano sees hundreds of feet past the first car ahead to avoid crashes even before other drivers hit the brakes.Courtesy Nissan

This four-cylinder engine manages the power of a conventional five or six, while cutting 100 pounds of weight.Courtesy Volvo

Rolls-Royce Wraith — This super-smart luxury car senses bumps and dips before they arrive, adjusting its transmission and suspension to match. This means a smoother ride and more power power from the engine.Courtesy Rolls-Royce

Dolby Atmos For Home — Dolby pioneered surround-sound technology years ago, and now they're taking it into the third dimension for true immersionDolby Atmos

IMAX Digital 3D Camera — This new 3D camera from IMAX is light and quiet enough to push the boundaries of cinematography for really really really really big screen.IMAX

Augmented reality comes to the play den as kids gain the power to upload their physical creations into virtual worlds.Jonathon Kambouris

Blue Microphones Mo-Fi — These headphones include on-board amplification in order to bring true hi-fi to low-powered devices.Jonathan Kambouris

4K Streaming — A new kind of compression puts Netflix at the forefront of ultra high definition delivery.Courtesy Netflix

This new TiVo system can record from the airwaves, leaving cable behind.Courtesy TiVo

Samsung UN78S9B — This new Samsung television adjusts its curvature to accommodate small or large crowds.Courtesy Samsung

Sony Playstation TV — Streaming comes to video game consoles, courtesy of Sony.Sony

WowWee MiP — You love robots. (It's not a question.) This self-balancing wonder stays upright, responds to gesture commands, carries small items, and syncs with its buddies.Jonathan Kambouris

It's like the original Dragon, only better. And NASA chose it to send astronauts into space.SpaceX

These Google delivery drones fly like airplanes, hover like helicopters, and lower packages by long cables to protect machines and bystanders. What's not to love?Google

When its rover deployed, China became just the third nation to succeed in a soft landing on the moon.Chinese Academy of Sciences

The DoD recently confirmed the existence of this super-stealth drone.Popular Science

Hobbyists should love this light, versatile, collapsable two-seater airplane.Courtesy Icon

The world's longest, largest aircraft incorporates an innovative shape to keep it aloft for days.Courtesy Hybrid Air Vehicles

This emissions-free, battery powered plane will carry pilots in training for 75-minutes flights.Courtesy Airbus

This commuter copter wildly differs from anything else in the air.Courtesy E-volo

NASA built a supersonic brake for landing on faraway planets, and it's amazing.Courtesy JPL

It turns out that when you put the engines on top of the wings the whole airplane improves.Courtesy Honda Aircraft Company

Sony α7S — Sony's new mirrorless interchangeable lens camera is extraordinarily sensitive to low light, making nighttime photos—wait for it—a snap.Jonathan Kambouris

This new Android cell phone encrypts calls and texts, locking out whoever might be listening.Courtesy Blackphone

This sapphire display survives falls, scratches, and other indignities of everyday cellphone use.Courtesy Kyocera

It's here: a mass-produced, truly flexible screen.Courtesy LG

This 360 degree by 270 degree camera captures the immersive views necessary for virtual reality.Jonathon Kambouris

This stylus enables designers and artists to draw precise images on usually clunky touch screens.Courtesy Adobe

These indoor locational awareness systems are brand new, but app developers are already coming up with an amazing range of tasks for the bluetooth gadgets.Courtesy Estimote

This sit-to-stand desk reminds you when it's time to shift.Courtesy Stir

Cardboard doesn't usually top the list of materials associated with tech giants, but this ultra-cheap virtual reality system should open new consumer frontiers for the technology.Jonathon Kambouris

Widespread, immersive virtual reality is on the cusp of becoming a reality. Read our Q&A with Jeremy Bailenson, founder of Stanford's Virtual Human Interaction Lab.Oculus

Deka "Luke" Arm — This prosthetic so advanced is so advanced, it takes its name from Luke Skywalker's replacement limb in Star Wars.Jonathan Kambouris

To combat evasion, Exact Sciences introduces this less invasive, home-use colon cancer screening.Courtesy Exact Sciences

This laser machine takes the pain, numbing, and loud noise out of dentistry.Courtesy Convergent Dental

This little device lets you know if you're not getting enough sun for your mental or bodily health.Jonathon Kambouris

This stripped-down, mobile in-vitro fertilization lab cuts costs and improves access.Thomas Henry Huxley

Medrobotics Flex System — This tooled robotic snake with a high-definition camera allows less invasive surgeries with easier recoveries.Courtesy Medrobotics Corporation

RevMedx XStat — These injectable sponges can enter open wounds to stop internal bleeding in the field for up to four hours.Jonathon Kambouris

This first-of-its-kind drug cures Hepatitis C in weeks. Wow.Courtesy Gilead Sciences

Sproutling baby monitor — Like a FitBit for babies, this wearable monitor help parents keep their infants safe and tracks their habits.Courtesy Sproutling

Clever Medkit — This cloud-connected medical kit points users to the right treatments and tracks its stocks.Popular Science

Black & Decker 20v Max Lithium Cordless Drill With Autosense Technology — The folks at Black & Decker have designed a sensor that detects major shifts in a screw's torque, stopping the motor before stripping the fastener or splintering wood.Jonathon Kambouris

This little apparatus makes any DC-powered device it's attached to "smart" and controllable by smartphone.Courtesy Belkin

Love duct tape but hate the look? This new adhesive strip from Gorilla performs the same function but is perfectly clear.Jonathon Kambouris

This drip-style coffee maker produces the artisanal flavors of a true French press.Courtesy Remington

This smart sensor emails you when your filters are clogged, a common cause of HVAC inefficiency.Courtesy CleanAlert

This kit turns just about any toilet into a hands-free flusher.Courtesy Kohler

LG EcoHybrid Dryer DLHX4072V — This dryer cuts the power-hungry staple's electricity consumption in half.LG

T-fal OptiGrill — Sensors in this barbecue tell you when your meat is done to your liking, ending the guesswork in grilling.Jonathon Kambouris

Toro Recycler with SmartStow — New motor tech enables this lawnmower to take up half the space in storage.Brian Klutch

Google Android Wear — While no hardware leader has emerged in the smartwatch market, Google has standardized the wearable operating system with its ubiquitous software.Jonathon Kambouris

For the first time, software geared toward average users will allow photo editors to move objects in 3D space.Carnegie Mellon University

Humin provides a contact list that works like your brain, organizing people by context, not the alphabet.Courtesy Humin

File sharing meets streaming in this legal-ish software wonder.Popcorn Time

This console game outsources the bulk of its processing to the cloud, enabling high performance without lag time.Courtesy Respawn

Yosemite is the first operating system from Apple to truly integrate its mobile and desktop user experiences.Courtesy Apple

A bike lock that outsmarts thieves.Jonathon Kambouris

This sensor can read backscatter radiation bouncing off objects to see through solid objects in the field.Courtesy AS&E

This smoke system brands intruders with harmless, unique plant DNA tags to prove they were at the scene.Courtesy Applied DNA Sciences

This software aims to cut time from investigations by sifting through security footage for important events.Courtesy Carnegie Mellon University

The USB home iris scanner aims to replace passwords on computers.Jonathon Kambouris

This label fights counterfeit drugs by proving a medicine's legitimacy when it's breathed on.Courtesy University of Michigan Engineering Communications & Marketing

This app allows users to turn credit cards on and off from their cell phones, fighting fraud.Courtesy Ondot

This home security camera swivels at the command of a remote user on a tablet or phoneJonathon Kambouris

DARPA Flash — This new real-time data exchange system from DARPA aims to save firefighters' lives by tracking their position against hazards.DARPA

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