The top 10 top 10 lists of 2007

I am a great fan of end-of-the-year lists, and so I thought I'd share my favorites with you during these last days of 2007. (Okay, I admit it: some of these aren't really top 10 -- they're more top 5, or top 13 -- but we can stretch a point there, can't we?) Anyway, here they are: my choices for the top 10 top 10 lists of 2007:

1. Wired: The Top 10 Heartbreaking Gadgets of 2007

Wired seems to be the king of the top 10 lists, offering a plethora of roundups that include the 10 best examples of vaporware, and the 10 best gadget ads. However, the one I really enjoyed (and sympathized with) was the The Top 10 Heartbreaking Gadgets of 2007, which lists the devices that could have changed the landscape of technology, but turned out to be limited in some way, or didn't work quite as advertised, or was just plain ugly. This is the kind of thing you read with a single, wistful tear in your eye.

2. Google: 2007 Year-End Zeitgeist

It's almost a requirement to check out Google's Internet Zeitgeist page at least once at the end of the year to see what all your fellow Web-surfers were checking out. Although I'm never sure what the significance of these is -- for example, does it mean anything that Ron Paul is on top of the most searched-for presidential candidates? But although American Idol still tops the global Google searches for 2007, it's nice to know that in the categories of Who, What, How, philosophy and adolescence still rule -- the top questions are "who is god," "what is love," and "how to kiss."

3. Science: Breakthrough of the Year 2007

Okay, let's get serious here -- at least, let's look at some serious science, courtesy of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, which has chosen its Breakthrough of the Year 2007 as being human genetic variation -- in other words, "the extent to which our genomes differ from person to person and the implications of this variation for deciphering the genetics of complex diseases and personal traits." Runners up include reprogramming cells, a new class of materials called transition metal oxides, and insights into human memory. Not as easy to grasp as, say, the top 10 YouTube music videos, but a lot more important.

4. BBC News: The technology with impact 2007

I dunno, maybe it's the accents that makes anything coming from the BBC just that much more, well, authoritative. Or maybe it's the fact that if you want to know what's going on in the world besides Paris Hilton's latest arrest, the BBC is a good place to go. At any rate, here the five members of the BBC News technology team offer their opinions about the top tech of the year. The winners? In no particular order: Facebook (chosen by two of the five); Witricity (wireless power transfer); rich Web applications; and EnumEnum, an attempt to use telephone numbers as universal identifiers across multiple means of communication. You see? You think USA Today would have come up with that?

5. Pingdom: The major incidents on the internet in 2007

Pingdom, a company which monitors business sites for any downtime, has posted its list of the 13 most notable outages of 2007. First on its list? The two days in August when Skype stopped working. Other major disappearances: the day Ubuntu 7.04 was released to an overeager public, the Google Analytics outage, and Twitter's total of six days of downtime.

6. Slate: The top science-and-tech privacy threats of 2007

Slate has contributed a list for the just-because-I'm-paranoid-doesn't-mean-they're-not-watching-me set. Its list of top ten science and tech privacy threats for 2007 includes the surveillance cameras that monitor the citizens of cities such as London, Paris, and New York; the wars on smoking, junk food, and salt; and the battle against pedestrian cell-phone use. Oh, and mind-reading computers.

7. Association of Zoos & Aquariums: Top Ten Wildlife Conservation Success Stories in 2007

If you're into animals, the Association of Zoos & Aquariums has published its top 10 wildlife conservation success stories for 2007 (probably figuring that a top ten list of disappearing species -- what's going on with the bees, anyway? -- would be a downer for the holiday season). These include how the Detroit Zoo is saving the Wyoming toads; how Grevy's zebras are being saved both in Kenya and St. Louis, and how the bald eagle was removed from the Endangered Species List.

8. National Geographic News: Top Ten News Stories of 2007

National Geographic, which is about to celebrate its 120th anniversary, has listed its own top ten news stories. While these are all legitimate stories, however, many of the headlines seem more suitable for a low-budget scifi flick. There is, for example, the monster glowing squid, the dinosaur mummy, and the mysterious illness in Peru caused by a meteor crash. (Although I have to admit that the glowing squid is truly weird to see.)

9. NewScientistTech: 2007: Top 10 technology videos

This fascinating site (which I plan to check out more during the coming year) posts articles and videos about scientists and tech enthusiasts who are working on projects of various sorts. The videos often are grainier than your typical YouTube presentation, and some of the events they celebrate may seem less-than-earthshaking, but if you're into the nuts and bolts of technology, they can be really interesting. My favorite is the tripedal robot that gets around by deliberately falling forward and swinging its third leg around to catch itself.

10. Fox News: Top 12 Strangest Health Stories of 2007

If you want the truly strange and bizarre, where do you go? Fox News, of course, whose list of the top 12 strange health stories of 2007 include such gems as the woman who almost died following a bikini wax; the girl who had a 10-pound hairball removed from her stomach; and Oscar the cat, who can predict which patient in his nursing home is going to die next. Who needs the National Inquirer?