BEST APPS AND DEVICES OF THE YEAR — SO FAR
It’s time for a midyear status update on cool new gadgets and tech. Warning: Most of the really cool stuff hasn’t come out yet. We’ll have to wait for the fall. Last year at this time, we already had the Apple Watch, the Google Pixel laptop and the Meerkat and Periscope apps, which pioneered the use of smartphones for live mobile broadcasting.
The product more of us were talking about than any other, the Amazon Echo connected speaker, came out in 2015. There really hadn’t been a hot new app this year until July 6. Mostly, we were foaming at the mouth about old ones, like Snapchat and Facebook Messenger. Two of the year’s most-hyped new products, virtual-reality machines from Oculus and HTC, had been previewed for years — so it’s hard to think of them as 2016 breakthroughs.
Here’s what would qualify: HOTTEST APP That would be Pokémon Go, which brought augmented reality to the world in a big way. The app instructs players to catch the characters of the Pokémon world out in the real world. The app has sent thousands of people into the streets, parks and malls looking for Pikachu, Venusaur and other creatures from Pokémon land. Researcher SensorTower says more than 15 million Go apps have been downloaded in less than a week. MOST TALKED-ABOUT AND USED TECHNOLOGY Facebook Live. The social network took what was great about Periscope and Meerkat and brought it to 1.6 billion people. There’s no new twist to broadcasting live from your mobile phone, except that everyone you know is probably on Facebook, so they’re more likely to see your work in real time. Celebrities, your friends, everyone was seemingly going live online.
Then it reached public consciousness in a new way: Democratic lawmakers used it to broadcast a gun-control protest in Congress after the House session ended and the TV cameras were turned off. And the Face- book Live broadcast by the girlfriend of Philando Castile in the minutes after the Minneapolisarea man was shot by a police officer gave viewers an up-close and grim view of the aftermath of a police shooting. Experts said the video ushered in the era of the personal body camera and to expect more Facebook Live broadcasts of traffic stops.
Apps and services have generated the most buzz. But there were some gadget trend winners, especially for TV watchers. DOWN-TO-EARTH 4K PRICES Three years ago, it would cost thousands to buy an Ultra HD TV 4K set. Now, Vizio and TCL are selling them for around $500, and TCL’s 55-inch set comes with a built-in Roku streaming player. THE GADGET FOR EVERYONE We all complain about poor WiFi reception in the home, and the EERO device aimed to fix those woes, like picking up a signal even through pesky walls. At $199, it’s pricey, but it does the trick. CAMERA OF THE YEAR Talk about tech breakthroughs! With the new RX10 Mark III, Sony figured out a way to fit an amazing mega-zoom lens, (24mm-600mm — ultra-wide to super close-up) in a compact body, with full manual controls and 4K video recording. I love this one more than the previous model, RX10II. It’s the greatest travel camera ever. I’ll have a full review of it next week.