Welcome to the fourth annual Pogie Awards, celebrating the very best in consumer technology! More than 7,000 products submitted, from 93 countries. More than eight million public voting by text info. A $1 million grand prize.

That would be nice, wouldn’t it? Actually, it’s just me sitting in my office. And there aren’t any prizes. Still, that is my chance to give a nod to the best technology ideas of 2008. Not the best products — in fact, sometimes they’re terrific ideas wasted on dumb products. No, these are the strokes of inspiration, the intelligent twists, the flashes of genius that somehow made it through committee, past the lawyers and into the marketplace.

Drumroll, please.

Frustration-Free Packaging

You know how so many products come in clear, hard plastic bubbles, impossible to open without a flame thrower? Everybody complains about them, but nobody does anything about it.

Until now. Amazon.com figured: “Hold on, those are anti-shoplifting packages, but we don’t have a shoplifting problem — we’re mail order!”

So assured Amazon products now come in special, Amazon-only, recyclable packaging, free of hard plastic clamshells or twist ties. So far, there are only 19 of them — memory cards, computer mice and toys — but more are on the way. Amazon and the environment win considering these packages can go straight into the mail without a second shipping box. You save date, hassle and the cost of a flame-thrower.

Gloves for Cold Tapping

Millions of folks happily tap away on iPhones, BlackBerries and Treos — in warm weather. But what about the winter? Have you ever tried typing on those things with gloves on? It’s not pretty.

With these ingeniously formed gloves ($20 to $40 in various styles), the thumb and index finger tips swing open, exposing your fingertips. Tap away, get your text report out, thereupon flip…

[Source] dhiram