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Chromebooks
Chromebooks created a new market of cheaper laptops for users who only need the basics and an internet connection, beginning with the first Chromebooks from Acer and Samsung in 2011. These days, Chromebooks are particularly popular in schools, where they stand up to wear and tear better than tablets. -
Oculus VR
The virtual reality headset market as we know it began in 2012 with Oculus; this photo was taken on the floor at CES 2013. Read our initial impressions of the Oculus, and PCMag's review of the inaugural Oculus Rift Development Kit. Consumer VR headsets haven't yet taken the world by storm, in part because they initially needed to be tethered to pricey gaming PCs. -
PlayStation 4 and Xbox One
In 2013, Xbox and PlayStation went head-to-head for the future of console gaming. Sony's PlayStation 4 and Microsoft's Xbox One spawned a new era of games and countless thinkpieces, though PS4 got the last laugh when it came to units sold. -
Amazon Echo and Alexa
Alexa is the queen of the voice assistants. Ever since Amazon unveiled the first Echo smart speaker in 2014, smart home devices with smart assistants have exploded in popularity and changed computing. Alexa continues to learn more skills as it competes with Google Assistant, Cortana, and Siri, but users are also beginning to realize that always-on convenience comes with major trade-offs when it comes to privacy. -
Xbox Adaptive Controller
Microsoft took a leap forward for tech accessibility in 2018 with the Xbox Adaptive Controller. The adjustable interface is designed for players with disabilities, sporting two large buttons that can be reprogrammed to act as any of the standard Xbox controller's button inputs. It's also got 19 ports and jacks on the back and sides of the device that can connect to a range of joysticks, buttons, and switches corresponding to specific Xbox controller buttons.