In a world where technological advances appear everyday in news-feeds and broadcasts, the annual T3 Gadget Awards is a microcosm of all of these advances in one location. Like the Oscars for Technology, the T3 Gadget Awards nominate the most cutting-edge gadgets out today. With past releases like the iPad 2, Microsoft’s Kinect and huge advances in gaming, it’s worth a quick note to show some of the most important revelations which have taken place in 2011. Over 960,000 votes, along with the final tabulations of a 6 person expert panel, decided the winners. Here are just a few of the more interesting revelations, as well as some interesting–if not ironic–choices for winners.
Ironic Winners
As gadgetry encompasses many arenas, so must the T3 categories. This means that categories like Best Retailer and Gadget Personality of the Year are included. The latter had one of the most ironic choices for winner: Mark Zuckerberg, the founder of Facebook. Although one cannot argue his importance in the world of communication, he’s never been known for his George Clooney-esque charisma. Then there’s the category of Best Commuting Device. Here, pitted against automobiles and electric bicycles, the winner was the Amazon Kindle. True, it will help pass the time while traveling, but it does make a perplexing choice for Commuting Device of the Year.
Influential Winners
Another interesting revelation can be found in the voters’ decision that Twitter is the “Digital Media Service of the Year.” Sure, Zuckerberg’s got the Personality, but Twitter won the bigger battle. To be sure, the principals of large corporations like Apple, Google and Facebook are probably not crying themselves to sleep because they didn’t win a Gadget gong. It is notable, however, that more votes were generated for Twitter than any other medium by the tech community themselves. Those in-the-know with lots of sway ought to be taken very seriously by the tech giants. Basically, Facebook can’t rest on its laurels (just look at MySpace for reference).
Surprising Winners
For many, the iPhone 4 would probably be guessed as the runaway winner of the Phone of the Year award. Instead–and more importantly–because more serious tech fans cast the votes, Samsung’s Galaxy S II walked away with the award. In the Tech Brand of the Year category, Google was the big winner, beating out rivals Facebook and Apple. Again, it’s “just the T3 Gadget Awards”, but as always, it’s better to be the winner than the runner-up. And when millions of dollars rides on person to person advertising and brand recognition, every tiny bit helps.
In the final analysis, the 2011 T3 Gadget Awards provided some fascinating insight into where technology is headed. Some of the winners were surprising, with Samsung taking a number of Awards, showing that it’s not just the Giants in the industry making all the waves. Please take some time to check out the complete list of Awards, categories and nominees. You can even go back to 2008; the first year votes were cast, and see how much technology has changed, who the winners were in the past and whether or not they’re still relevant today.
