Which technology services made a significant, positive impact on you as an individual in 2008? Which most impacted the market as you see it? We performed an in-depth evaluation of the services we covered this year and combined it with your feedback to compile a list of the cream of the crop.

Vonage: VoIP has taken the market by storm. Switching to Vonage (Etilities Forum) can result in amazing monthly cost savings, and the provider shines amidst the competition thanks its features, price and reliability.

Netflix: Implementing the first mainstream DVD-by-mail model was impressive enough, but Netflix (Etilities Forum) did not rest on its deserved laurels.  It is constantly working on new ways to deliver content to your TV set – as well as the other screens in your home.  It has formed an impressive number of partnerships this year to to improve their video-on-demand offerings.

Hulu: When we first heard about Hulu (Etilities Forum), we thought the service was just another YouTube wannabe with a funny name.  But how wrong we were!  Hulu has truly come a very long way in 2008 and the amount of content they now provide is very impressive indeed.  Hulu has become nothing short of the benchmark for the rest of the content streaming industry.

Amazon: Amazon(Etilities Forum) continues to constantly re-invent itself, paying close attention to what you are wishing for: from DRM-free downloadable music to online storage, video-on-demand, and retail electronics, Amazon can be your one-stop shop for practically all of your entertainment and technology needs.

Remember The Milk: Online task manager Remember The Milk (Etilities Forum) was a solid service from the start.  With a clean yet incredibly functional design, it’s been a reliable task manager since 2005.  But 2008 was the year we feel it truly became a must-have service: now that you can access your tasks through the iPhone application which also offers content while offline, you can “remember the milk” anywhere you go, including supermarkets with poor cell reception.

Evernote: A truly innovative application, Evernote (Etilities Forum) not only allows you to store and manage text notes in the cloud, but also images and audio content – all of which can be easily located with its search capability.  Available for pretty much any platform you can think of, it has become a must-have note taking tool.  If you want to learn more about it, check out our article on Evernote.

Lala.com: Around since 2006, Lala (Etilities Forum) re-launched in 2008 with a refreshing take on the digital music application: Lala.com allows different levels of music ownership at different prices, allowing you to gradually own your tracks as you decide just how much you like them.  Combined with Pandora (below), it is an incredible tool to find new tunes to your liking.

Pandora: Pandora (Etilities Forum) is simply the best place to discover new music.  It is essentially an online radio station that learns your taste as you listen to songs and ‘thumbs-up’ or ‘thumbs-down’ what you hear.  You can pause and skip tracks, and listen to new music almost anywhere you go as Pandora is now available on a wide variety of smart phones in addition to the standard web browser.

Verizon FiOS: The combination of a high-speed broadband technology and a powerful marketing brand has allowed Verizon (Etilities Forum) to break into the bundles market.  Verizon is now one of the key providers of bundled services, and provides high-quality alternatives to the traditional providers like Cox, Comcast and the other usual suspects.

Comcast: Comcast (Etilities Forum) was certainly a controversial name in 2008 with the debates around net neutrality, broadband caps and service prices.  However, it also always seems to be just a bit ahead of the curve: it’s begun to roll out the new 50 Mbps service, is working on a bandwidth usage meter, and has implemented by far the highest disclosed bandwidth cap at 250 GB.

Are there any providers you wish had made it to this top ten?  Do you feel we are mistakenly praising services you’ve had problems with?  Let us know in the comments below, or in the “Gallop Forum” links with each provider above.

Regardless, we hope you’ve enjoyed these services as much as we have, and we are looking forward to yet another great year in the personal technology services world.  If you haven’t had a chance to try some of them out, you’ve still got a few days before you make one or more a part of your New Year’s Resolutions.

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