Coolest Products of the Decade
By EH Staff
A look back at some influential A/V of the past decade.

Back in 2000, few people had high-definition televisions, DVD popularity began phasing out VHS, speedy broadband Internet wasn’t mainstream, and people had just started stocking up on MP3s (the majority illegally obtained).

Companies like TiVo and Netflix that would dramatically change people’s viewing habits were barely out of infancy.

Now we can watch just about anything we want, whenever we want, and almost wherever we want — on our TVs, computers, cell phones. And super-high quality TVs don’t cost a fortune either ... far from it, even for sizes equivalent to the super-space-hogging rear-projection sets popularized in the 90s.

So we’re taking a look back at some of our favorites from the decade. We’re not getting into the automation category (though you can use your iPhone to control some of that too), but there’s been plenty else to change the landscape of A/V and home theater.



iPhone
Apple’s iPhone has forever changed how we use cell phones. It can take photos, play games, browse the Web, send email. Oh, and it can make phone calls. The iPhone first came out on June 29, 2007, and Apple has sold more than 30 million iPhones to date. We now have the iPhone 3G and iPhone 3GS. The App Store opened July 11, 2008 and contains more than 100,000 apps for download.

Flat-panel TVs
Yes, we realized that plasmas were introduced in the late 90s, but if you walked into a Best Buy around 2001 you’d be paying $12K for a 50-inch set. With the rise of plasma (though the technology is now declining) and LCD technologies, flat-panels have become commonplace in the home now. So much so that you can get that 50-inch size flat-panel now for a tenth of that 2001 price, with better picture quality.

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