Google's Chromecast has been generating a lot of buzz in the tech community since its unveiling earlier this year. Now the $35 media streaming device has beat out stiff compettiton from Apple, Microsoft, Nokia and Roku for the top spot on Time Magazine's top gadgets of 2013 list.
"Lots of companies have built devices to do this; Chromecast is the first one that gets it right," the piece wrote to explain its decision of putting the device as number one on its list.
According to Yahoo News, this marks the first time that an Apple product has failed to make the top spot on the magazine's list since 2010. Although it hasn't reached the top spot on the list, Apple was not completely absent in 2013. The iPad Air and iPad Mini made it to the second place positions with Time describing them as "the best tablet you can buy, in two convenient sizes." Apple isn't walking away with no accolades this year as it is the only company with two products on the top-ten list. The iPhone 5S nabbed fifth place.
Meanwhile, the Amazon Kindle Fire HDX was the only tablet to make the list. It made the seventh place position and was praised for its polished look and feel as well as the innovative "Mayday" feature, which allows users to immediately video call a tech expert whenever some kind of problem comes up with the device.
The Oculus Rift Development Kit virtual reality headset made the list at third place. This VR headset has made waves in the gaming community ever since its debut at this year's E3 2013. Although the product won't be launching for consumers until sometime in 2014, its presence in the tech world this year has been completely impossible to ignore. The future of video gaming technology will likely reside in the full 360 degree range of motion first-person viewing that the company has been developing.
Time's Top 10 Gadgets list in full breaks down like this:
1. Google Chromecast
2. Apple's new iPads
3. Oculus Rift Development Kit
4. Pebble Smartwatch
5. Apple iPhone 5s
6. Microsoft Xbox One
7. Amazon Kindle Fire HDX
8. Nest Protect
9. Leap Motion Controller
10. Nokia Lumia 1020