The results of the 2008 Engadget Awards are out and readers have voted Apple's iPhone as the Gadget of the Year.


They' ve also chosen their best and worst gadgets, from cellphones, computers, and cameras to game consoles, HDTVs and more in the annual readers' choice awards.



Gadget of the Year

Apple iPhone

Worst Gadget of the Year

Microsoft Zune

Most Anticipated Gadget of the Year

Microsoft Windows 7

Cellphone of the Year

LG Vu

Smartphone of the Year

Apple iPhone

Desktop of the Year

Apple iMac

Laptop of the Year

Apple MacBook Pro

Netbook of the Year

Dell Inspiron Mini 9

Digital Camera of the Year

Canon EOS 5D Mark II

Game Console of the Year

Nintendo Wii

Handheld of the Year

Apple iPod Touch

HDTV of the Year

Sony Bravia MotionFlow

Portable Media Device of the Year

Apple iPod Touch

Wearable Device of the Year

Aliph Jawbone 2

Full results: 2009 Engadget Awards

Students at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Media Lab have developed a wearable computer that projects its display to any nearby surface. This computer is controlled by hand gestures and voice recognition.



The user of this digital "Sixth Sense" device can easily call upon virtual gadgets, and even data from the Internet when they want to, and then make them disappear at will.

The device, which is still a prototype, was demonstrated last week at the annual Technology, Entertainment, Design (TED) Conference in California.

The prototype used in the demonstration consisted of a battery-powered mini-projector, an Internet enabled mobile phone and a webcam, along with four colored Magic Marker lids worn on the fingertips. The hardware can track the lids and interpret the finger movements according to predefined functions.



Examples of the functions that were demonstrated were:
- The device was capable of projecting a watch face when the user's fingers 'drew' a circle on their arms.
- Drawing a rectangular picture frame in the air will make the device snap a photo which is saved onto the phone, and can be displayed and re-sized while projecting them onto a wall at a later date
- When encountering someone unfamiliar at a party, the user can ask the system to project a cloud of words on the person's body to provide more information about him, for example, his blog URL, the name of his company, his likes and interests.
- Putting the user's hands together in "namaste" fashion will call upon the main menu where he'll get to choose what applications he wants to use.
- To read an email, the user needs to simply draw an @ symbol in the air.
- While reading a newspaper, the device can project a video onto it that provides more information on the topic that was being read.

Click on the article page for the full article, including videos of this seemingly-far-fetched futuristic device.

Article: WIRED