COVER STORY
RASPBERRY PI (2012) : This isn’t a full-
fledged gadget but still deserves to be amongst
the top 10 innovative gadgets of the decade.
Designed with the mission to put the power of
computing and digital making into the hands
of people all over the world, Raspberry Pi is a
low-cost, credit-card sized computer that cost
around $25 and was designed to teach young
people to program. It runs Linux from an SD
card and is powered by a USB charger. It could
be plugged into a computer monitor or TV and
can be used along with a standard keyboard and
mouse. People have been experimenting with
Raspberry Pi and it is best known as a DIY tool.
GOOGLE GLASS (2013) : Announced in
2013, Google Glass was an optical head-
mounted display in the shape of eyeglasses
and was popularly referred to as wearable
computing eyewear. Housing a 5-MP camera,
the lens of the glasses was interactive. It
was a smartphone-like display powered by
Android mobile OS. It created a big splash in
the nascent augmented reality space. It was
a high-end, promising piece of technology but
received a lot of criticism too.
AMAZON ECHO: (2014) : A popular
category today, Amazon introduced the
concept of smart speakers in 2014 with the
launch of the first Echo. Powered by AI-voice
assistant Alexa, Echo would wake up with the
word ‘Alexa’ and respond to the queries asked
by the user. Even back then, it could play
music, answer questions such as what’s the
time, read the news, control compatible IoT
devices and more, wirelessly.
