This year saw many amazing products launch. Here are some of them. One product was a clear winner, unlike other years where the choice is difficult. It was special because it was a bet made with a lot of risk that paid off. This helped the manufacturer to become, for a while, one of the most successful manufacturers. You can also find out more about the following: Most valuable company in world.
Normally, I wouldn’t include a Product of the Week in this column, since it’s centered around the Product of the Month. But, after discovering a chocolate treat that I love, and have almost become addicted to, I felt compelled to include it. Sweet as Fudge is a small, local company that makes the confection. Let’s first talk about the chocolate before we return to 2024.
The product is Dark Chocolate Triple-Dipped Malt Balls. Also, there’s a sugar-free variety that is surprisingly tasty. One pound is around $15 but they are delicious. They melt better in the fridge. This holiday season, if you enjoy chocolate and malt (my favorite summer drink is chocolate malt), try them.
Next, let’s move on to the main event. We’ll begin with the products that didn’t quite make my top 10 list, and then conclude with the product that won the title of Product Of The Year.
Fisker Ocean
Image credit: Fisker
It’s a shame this company didn’t survive the year, but the Fisker Ocean — which I had planned to buy — was arguably the best electric SUV on paper. The Fisker Ocean had some cool and unique features, such as a solar-panel roof or a pull up table that allowed the driver to eat a meal or snack in the car.
The eSUV I bought was well designed and had a decent range. It was also one of the most attractive vehicles on the market. The company and car were killed by inefficiencies, and a financial mismanagement. Fisker is no more.
2025 Audi RS e-tron® GT Performance
Image credit: Audi Communications
After Fisker filed for bankruptcy, I purchased a used Audi etron GT 2022. Audi released it shortly after I purchased it. 2025 modelIt is a beast. It has a whopping 1,000 HP and blazing performance, which is more than I require as my base model is already fast enough. The car also features hydraulic suspension, which allows it to adjust the height almost instantly.
Oh, it’s a lot more practical to drive a car on a daily basis now that they have added around 100 extra miles. The car is priced at $171,000 and out of reach for me, but it’s a beautiful vehicle!
Hyundai Ioniq 5 N
Image credit: Hyundai
Hyundai’s strategy with the Ioniq 5 N For those who are missing the engine noise and manual gear shifting of a gas car, an electric car may be the answer. This Hyundai may be the most fun electric vehicle in the world. It does a decent job faking engine sounds, and shifting feels like you are shifting a car — even though this is emulated and actually makes the car slower. It is fun to drive, and it’s a decently quick car (0 to 60 seconds).
The Hyundai Ioniq 5 N isn’t badly priced for a performance car that lists under $70,000, and it’s likely quicker than your buddy’s far more expensive exotic car.
OpenAI’s ChatGPT
Wow! Talk about a product that has changed the world. ChatGPT Apple and Microsoft both use this core technology to drive their AI initiatives. It’s Dall-E image recognition capability is impressive (as it is Google Gemini, which i also use), and has changed the ways many of us have written software, created images, or even completed works.
ChatGPT is advancing at an incredible rate, and artificial general intelligence (AGI), promises to revolutionize the way we create what we are reading. ChatGPT is making a difference in what we are watching. Although Google’s Gemini Advanced platform is also a powerful one, it is not as revolutionary. ChatGPT, which was released before 2024 and is now the base for Apple and Microsoft’s massive AI efforts in 2018, launched prior to that date.
Windows 365 Link
We’ve been asking for terminals to be brought back ever since the PC was introduced. The PC is great, but the support it requires, especially at scale, can be a bit complex. Microsoft created the problem and has, in fairness, mitigated some of the pain associated with it by improving Windows.
However, Windows 365 Link It’s a device that looks like a terminal, but delivers Windows functionality with the simplicity and reliability of a terminal. It’s a little like a “Back to the Future”, and it is a story about a man who bites a dog. I believe this is the future of PCs.
Bluesky
Many of us are looking for an alternative to Twitter since Elon Musk acquired it. Every time we were excited about new efforts, we were disappointed.
Bluesky It has come the closest to being a better Twitter, and I’ve seen more and more of my friends migrate to it. It also has technical advantages over X/Twitter, thanks to its distributed architecture.
I think its moderation is better than Twitter’s. I think it was a great step forward and hope that it becomes a part of our future.
Google Pixel 9 Pro Fold
It is important to note that the word “you” means “you”. Google Pixel 9 Pro Fold This is the phone that I now carry and it’s awesome. The phone’s updates have been very helpful. It locks when it moves, such as if the phone is stolen. If you are reading while on a flight, it will lock. However, you can simply log back in. The tablet folds into a small size, so I can read the text even if I do not have my glasses with me. It is the best alternative to the discontinued Microsoft Duo for e-books.
Google should have used Qualcomm’s Snapdragon processor rather than its own. However, the difference between the two is not as big as with the original Fold. I love this phone.
Huawei Mate XT tri-fold smartphone
Huawei’s ingenuity in overcoming technological limitations to produce one of the world’s most desired smartphones is remarkable, despite initial growing pains due to the fact that this was an almost entirely new platform.
The fact that Huawei couldn’t buy the technology in America makes this phone a technical wonder. It went from iPhone-sized to iPad-sized. It shows where the industry is likely to be heading with smartphones and how it will set itself apart this year from competitors.
Huawei continues to impress, despite the difficulties posed by conflicts between the U.S.A. and China in this year. Impressive work.
Lenovo Auto Twist AI PC Concept
Lenovo was another company to stand out in this year’s innovation. The ThinkBook Auto-Twist AI PC Concept was the product that caught my attention.
This PC is different because it pans its screen and camera automatically based on your location in the room. This feature is especially useful for those who need to move around when on team calls, or if you want to watch a video tutorial while doing other things.
The screen rotating automatically to keep the focus on the user, was really cool. AI is advancing, and I expect to see AI PCs become even more innovative.
HP Print AI
AI innovations were the key to my 2024. HP Print AI, which was released in September, addresses many of our printer frustrations. It automatically formats pages without cutting the borders, and positions the data and graphics to ensure that each print is perfect.
We have all encountered problems with printing documents and having them lay out correctly. Spreadsheets can be the worst. They will often print one column or line on a single page, and then produce hundreds of copies with no meaning.
Image credit: HP
HP Print AI auto-formats print jobs so that the printed document will be useful. The AI analyses your print job using past training to determine an optimal format. It then auto-configures to achieve that result, so that each print job will be as perfect as AI can make them, as shown below:
Image credit: HP
This software from HP will help bring printer technology into the 21st century. Many companies plan to make more advancements like this, using AI to solve customer complaints with their products.
Disney BDX Robots
The BDX robots form part of the BDX Robots. Project Groot Use Nvidia Jetson robotics technology. You’ll see them at Disney parksYou will eventually be able purchase one.
This is the closest robot to “Star Wars” I have ever seen. I wish I had invested in Lucas Films then instead of spending money to see the first “Star Wars”, over and again. BDX showed how robotics have advanced, and there will be many amazing robots available in 2025.
Nvidia Blackwell GPU
Image credit: Nvidia
When Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang first presented BlackwellIt was an amazing event that demonstrated how a company can release a groundbreaking product. This GPU is huge in terms of power and performance requirements. It is forcing data centers to switch from air cooling to water cooling as the world turns to AI.
The story behind this part, and Nvidia’s entire AI initiative is one of legend. Jensen Huang was convinced, in the early 2000s – when IBM was doing most of the AI work – that AI was something more immediate. Nvidia’s financial performance suffered for much of the following 20 years as the company bet on AI. Huang would likely have been fired if he had not been the founder of Nvidia.
Nvidia was there to assist OpenAI. Nvidia is responsible for generative AI. Blackwell, the culmination of all this work is a massive GPU which is both power-hungry and incredibly efficient. It uses a lot of power but does more than other GPUs and NPUs.
AMD’s Threadripper processor was just as innovative, but designed to fit existing market requirements. Nvidia started working on Blackwell even before AI became popular. That’s something that is never done. Nvidia’s competitors were sleeping when it took what appeared to be an unreasonable and executed on it. Now Nvidia is almost synonymous with AI.
Back in the days when pensions were more common, CEO compensation was more reasonable and boards supported strategic long-term moves, this effort wouldn’t have seemed so out of place. In today’s society, this is not the case.
Nvidia Blackwell’s effort gave me the hope that we could be able return to an American future with a greater strategic focus. The world was fascinated by it, and increasingly concerned with AI. Blackwell represented a once-in a-generation leap of performance, and was a massive gamble that could have gone wrong. It is therefore my pick for Product Of The Year.
