Time's 50 Best Inventions of 2010 includes the Apple iPad, the Square payment platform, and the Flipboard iPad app.
Apple iPad Apple is the first company that designed finger-friendly hardware and software from scratch rather than stuffing a PC into a keyboardless case. When it calls the results "magical" and "revolutionary," it's distorting reality only slightly. One analyst says the iPad is the fastest-selling nonphone gizmo in consumer-electronics history.
Flipboard for iPad The killer iPad app Flipboard ends the chaos by grabbing updates, photos and links from your friends and other interesting people, then reformatting everything in a wonderfully browsable, magazine-like format. You can also add feeds from your favorite blogs and websites and share items with friends via social media and e-mail. With its oversize images and crisp typography, it's a glossy digital publication that feels as if it's been edited by your pals just for you.
Square With the aid of a tiny magnetic card reader that attaches to a smart phone, Square lets anyone process credit cards. It might not do away with paper entirely plenty of people still prefer cash but you certainly don't need to wait for a receipt: sign on the screen, and Square sends a copy straight to e-mail.