Get the Best Gadgets of 2007

List includes advancements from iPhone, Amazon and Netflix

(NEWSER) - David Pogue runs down the best tech ideas of 2008 in the New York Times, “the flashes of genius that somehow made it through committee, past the lawyers, and into the marketplace.” Highlights include:

• Headache-free packaging: Amazon’s plastic-free alternative is good for the environment and does not require the jaws of life to open.
• Freehands gloves: Type away on your PDA—effectively—without exposing your paws to frostbite.

After update uproar, specific developers may get access to platform

(NEWSER) - Having roused the ire of iPhone third-party software developers and users when its software update 1.1.1 permanently deactivated modified handsets, Apple is now corralling a groups of developers under strict confidentiality who may be given free reign to develop native apps for the iPhone, Fortune reports. More»

MIT expert reveals the secrets of great products and services

(NEWSER) - In an interview with John Maeda, NPR correspondent Ira Flatow questions the MIT Media Lab designer about his new book, "The Laws of Simplicity." The 10 laws are:

1. Reduce: Remove functionality
2. Organize: Organization makes a system of many seem fewer
3. Time: Savings in time feel like simplicity
4. Learn: Knowledge makes everything simpler
5. Difference: Simplicity and complexity need each other

Customers can bundle it with MiFi wireless device

(NEWSER) - Verizon delivered a surprise today with the announcement that it would start carrying the iPad in its stores later this month, Electronista reports. An optional deal would bundle the iPad’s standard Wi-Fi model with a Novatel MiFi 2200, allowing users to share a 3G connection with other devices. The move firms up those still unconfirmed reports that Apple will begin offering iPhones on a Verizon plan, ending AT&T’s exclusive hold on the smartphone. More»

Verizon's alliance with Google an obstacle for Apple

(NEWSER) - Competition from Google's Droid platform may stall the Verizon-Apple marriage, meaning the iPhone will wind up branching out to T-Mobile first. With AT&T's exclusive deal near an end, furious speculation about which provider will be the next to offer Apple's signature device has focused on Verizon. But two industry analysts are predicting that Verizon, No. 1 in US subscribers with 71 million, will lose out to No. 4 T-Mobile. A big reason: technology More»