Popular Science Names Top Tech Innovations of 2004; 12 Grand Award Winners Take Top Honors in the 17th Annual Best of What's New Awards

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nov. 9, 2004--Every year, the editors of Popular Science magazine review thousands of new products and technologies in pursuit of 100 breakthroughs that merit the magazine's highest honor, the Best of What's New award. Given annually to the top 100 technologies of the year, the Best of What's New awards appear in the December issue of Popular Science--the most widely read issue of the year--hitting newsstands November 16, 2004.

The Best of What's New showcases the top 100 tech innovations in 12 categories: Automotive Tech, Aviation & Space, Cars, Computing, Engineering, Gadgets, General Innovation, Home Entertainment, Home Tech, Personal Health, Photography and Recreation. Leading off each category is one Grand Award winner--a product or technology that represents a significant leap over existing technologies.

“Best of What's New honors innovations that impact the way we live today and change the way we think about the future”

"Best of What's New honors innovations that impact the way we live today and change the way we think about the future," said Mark Jannot, Editor of Popular Science. "This year's Grand Award winners range from the first running shoe with a microprocessor to a light bulb that burns for 35 years and a device that uses sound waves to take the sting out of injections."

The 2004 Grand Award Winners of the Popular Science Best of What's New Awards are:

AUTOMOTIVE TECH: BOSE SUSPENSION SYSTEM

Instead of traditional shocks, this revolutionary system uses electromagnetic motors mounted on each wheel to react to bumps instantaneously, pushing and pulling the wheel in and out of dips without jostling the car body.

AVIATION & SPACE: MARS ROVERS

Spirit and Opportunity emerged unscathed after a six-month journey to Mars and a touchdown cushioned by parachutes and airbags. They have traveled more than four miles, snapping pictures, grinding rocks and uncovering evidence of a warm, wet past on Mars.

CARS: 2005 DODGE MAGNUM

The coolest station wagon on Earth, powered by a 340hp Hemi. The Magnum hauls 71.6 cubic feet of cargo in back, and the RT model's V8 engine has a 0 to 60 speed of 6.3 seconds. A multi-displacement system shuts down half the cylinders at highway speeds, improving fuel economy without sacrificing performance.

COMPUTING: INTEL EXPRESS CHIPSETS

A cheap yet powerful replacement for sound and video cards, these chipsets with onboard AV capabilities work with Pentium processors to deliver faster peripheral and memory access performance. Now it's possible to turn your PC into an HD video recorder without paying for add-on cards.

ENGINEERING: TAIPEI 101

Taiwan's capital city is frequently buffeted by typhoons and sits near the most seismically active area on earth. The world's tallest building, the 1,666-foot Taipei 101, was built to withstand both high winds and earthquakes.

GADGETS: MICROSOFT WINDOWS MEDIA DRM 10

Digital Rights Management rules encoded in files restrict the number of times you can copy tracks from online music or movie services, and you have to be at your computer to listen or watch. DRM 10 frees up subscription content so you can put it on a portable device while maintaining copyright protections.

GENERAL INNOVATION: MOBION MICRO FUEL CELL

Nobody had miniaturized a fuel cell in a convincing application until MTI Micro powered up a prototype pocket PC with its Mobion methanol fuel cell. The first handheld commercial product to run on this fuel cell is an RFID reader debuting in 2005.

HOME ENTERTAINMENT: COLORPEAK MPC

ColorPeak enables televisions to produce more than one trillion colors on your screen, versus the 16.77 million you see today. Instead of blending the primary colors of light--red, green and blue-- ColorPeak adds filters that layer in yellow, magenta and cyan.

HOME TECH: ENLUX LED FLOOD

The first LED lamp for the home that illuminates as well as an incandescent bulb, won't overheat, and lasts 50,000 hours. That's 35 years at 4 hours per day. The 22-watt flood also gives off about as much brightness as a 45-65 watt incandescent.

PERSONAL HEALTH: SONOPREP SKIN PERMEATION DEVICE

This handheld device uses a blast of low-frequency sound waves to liquefy the mortarlike fat molecules that hold together skin's outermost layer, opening temporary gaps so that large drug molecules can pass through. Patients feel no pain, only a tingling.

PHOTOGRAPHY: HP R707

This 5.1 megapixel camera has adaptive lighting technology, Image Advice-- which notes each picture's settings and recommends ways to avoid mistakes--and a built-in red eye removal tool that fixes demon eyes right on the camera's 1.5-inch LCD screen.

RECREATION: ADIDAS_1 SHOE

When the adidas_1's heel hits the ground, a magnetic sensor measures compression in the midsole and a microprocessor decides whether the shoe is too soft or firm. During the seconds the shoe is airborne, a tiny motor shortens or lengthens a cable attached to a plastic cushioning element, making it more rigid or pliable.

The full list and descriptions of all 100 Best of What's New Winners is in the December issue of Popular Science, and can be viewed at www.popsci.com

Popular Science(R) is published by Time4 Media(R), the world's leading publisher of leisure-time magazines. Founded in 1872, PopSci is the world's largest science and technology magazine with a circulation of 1.45 million subscribers and a readership of 6.5 million. Time4 Media(R) is a subsidiary of Time Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Time Warner Inc. (NYSE: TWX).