Top 10 tech breakthroughs of 2008

The Memristor

The discovery of the "memristor" or memory transistor will make it possible to develop computer systems that remember what's stored in memory when they are turned off. That means computers that don't need to be booted up and systems that are far more energy efficient than the current crop. Researchers also hope the memristor can help develop a new kind of computer memory that can supplement or ultimately replace dynamic random access memory, or DRAM -- the type of memory used in personal computers. Memristors are still primarily confined to the lab, so commercial products based on this kind of circuitry will not be available for at least five years.

GPS in phones and laptops

This year, the Global Positioning System (GPS) has been used in many new technologies, from the iPhone 3G and the T-Mobile G1 to notebooks such as Fujitsu's LifeBook series. And devices that couldn't or didn't include true GPS made do with cell-tower triangulation or geolocation based on Wi-Fi hotspots. Now getting lost is no longer an option. The GPS system has been operational since 1978 and available for commercial use since 1993, but for years its use was relegated to expensive personal navigation devices and the dashboards of high-end cars.

Flash memory

When Apple blessed the iPod with flash memory, it gave new life to a technology that had long played second fiddle to hard disk drives. Flash memory now has become a mainstay of most consumer electronics products, from ultra light notebooks to digital cameras and media players. Solid-state flash drives offer faster response times than hard disk drives and they require much less power. The hitch is that they are almost eight times more expensive than hard disk drives. But with the star power behind flash storage, the prices have nowhere to go but down. The who's who of the tech industry -- EMC, Sun Microsystems, Intel and Hitachi -- is championing flash drives for larger business users.

Speedo LZR

Speedo's new LZR swimsuit blends new materials and a dose of NASA rocket science to boost the speeds of elite swimmers -- legally. Speedo's suit, with its ultrasonically bonded seams instead of stitches, low-drag panels and a mix of polyurethane layers, can cut resistance and help swimmers move through the water faster. It also has a rigid, girdle-style structure that helps position the swimmer's body in an optimal position. Did it have anything to do with Michael Phelps' amazing eight Olympic gold medals? Probably not, as nearly every swimmer at the Games was wearing a Speedo suit.

Edible chips

Soon, tiny edible chips will track when patients take their pills (or don't) and monitor the effects of the drugs they're taking. Proteus, a Redwood City, California, company, has created tiny chips out of silicon grains that, once swallowed, activate in the stomach. The chips send a signal to an external patch that monitors vital parameters such as heart rate, temperature, state of wakefulness or body angle. The data is then sent to an online repository or a cell phone for the physician and the patient to track. The chips could also improve drug delivery and even insert other kinds of health monitors inside the patient’s body. Doctors may now have a better answer to common patient complaints -- they will know exactly how it feels. If proven in clinical trials, edible chips could let physicians look into a patient's system in a way that could change how medicine is prescribed and how we take the drugs