Popular Science is one of my favorite magazines, and I've been subscribing to it since 1968. They've given out their Best of What's New awards to the best innovative technologies of 2005. Here are their awards for computer tech.
Toshiba Perpendicular Magnetic Recording is the grand prize winner for computer technology this year.
Perpendicular recording, a new way of writing data to a hard disk, creates the possibility of having a 10-gigabyte hard drive in your cellphone or a terabyte of space on your laptop. Just as the physical limits of traditional recording methods are being approached, Toshiba came out with this winner, 20 years in the making.
Other nominees included:
Airgo Networks Mimo and Belkin Wireless Pre-Router
Wi-Fi goes faster and farther
Google Local
Online mapping reinvented

Ageia Physx Processor
The first chip dedicated to making games act real
Niveus Media Center, Denali Edition
A living-room PC even videophiles can love
Ergodex DX1
Build your keyboard any way you like it
Razer Copperhead
The gaming mouse with a memory
Apple Spotlight Search Tool
Searching your digital life in real time