Wired and its Lists

Just like the rest of the media, Wired is running a whole series of articles listing the top this and that of 2005. Most are fun to read, I admit. Here I want to pull out a few points that relate to the geospatial world.

1) Among the Best and Worst Pundutry Wired notes that IDC predicted “the PC market would grow by 10 percent in 2005 (which appears on track, thanks to strong notebook sales) and that RFID deployments would accelerate (true, though not as quickly as many industry analysts expected).”

2) Among the Most Predictable Stories of 2005 Wired finds Google Maps.

Google Maps: In retrospect, how did anyone bear using MapQuest’s clunky interface, and why didn’t we all realize that dragging a map would feel so good?

Of course, the geniuses at Google recognized that every American’s birthright includes not only a search engine that works, but also online maps complete with Ajax goodness, satellite views and adorable pushpins.

There are bunch of Microsoft lists out there, but I have yet to find Virtual Earth/Live Local on any of them. Hmmm.