The Amazon Kindle is an electronic book reader made and sold by Amazon.com. It was introduced in November 2007, at a price of $399, later lowered to $359. A second version, with more memory and longer battery life, was introduced in February 2009 at the same price. A third, large-screen version, optimized to display textbooks and newspapers, was introduced in May 2009 for $489.

The Kindle uses a display technology called electronic ink, that is meant to mimic the experience of reading black letters on white paper. It is easier to read in bright lights and it uses less electricity than the sort of displays used on laptop computers and cellphones.

A few other companies, notably Sony, also sell electronic book readers. Amazon's approach is different because the Kindle does not need to be connected to a computer. Rather, users can purchase books right on the device, which downloads them over a wireless network. Also Amazon, which is one of the nation's biggest book sellers, has been able to convince most major publishers to release titles for the Kindle. While the Kindle was criticized for its bulky design and lack of features for Web browsing, it has been a hit in some quarters. The device appeals especially to heavy readers who like to travel or just move around town without the weight of several books.

Amazon does not publish sales figures. Estimates of the number of Kindles sold in the first year by industry analysts range from several hundred thousand to one million. Major publishers said that about 1 percent of their titles in 2008 were sold in the Kindle format, which often costs less than a physical book.

In May 2009, Amazon had 275,000 titles for sale in the Kindle format.

The device was praised by Oprah Winfrey, on her show in October 2008. Shortly thereafter, Amazon sold out of the first generation of Kindle devices, missing the critical holiday selling season. The company started shipping Kindles again only in February 2009, when the second generation became available.

Amazon has also said it plans to offer software to read Kindle books on other devices, such as Apple's iPhone. And using a new feature, called Whispersync, users could start reading on a Kindle device and continue from the same spot on their cellphones.

Google has said it plans to get into the electronic book market as well, offering a way for people to read the more than seven million books it has scanned from various devices including phones that use its Android operating system.

When Skype 2.0 hit the iPhone, a little note came along with it saying that it would make Skype-to-Skype calls over 3G for free until August. Today, Skype is clearing the air and letting customers know that such calls would actually be free until the end of 2010. This is great news for those who use Skype a lot. Until now, only Verizon customers were getting the real benefits of making Skype calls over 3G when Skype and Verizon announced its partnership back in Februry 2010.

Skype hasn’t announced how much calls over the AT&T 3G network will cost after 2010, but it made sure to let customers know that Skype-to-Skype calls will always be free, which is what everyone was always expecting. It’s not as convenient, but it’s a great way to make calls overseas or domestically with other Skype users without incurring extra charges.

After living through this decade, we don’t know why anybody would still want to party like it was 1999. Ten years is a long time. Most of these products, services and technologies we mention you may not even remember what it was life was like before their existence. Before this decade a cell phone was just a cell phone—all you could do was call and it most definitely flipped-up or had a mini antenna. This decade was filled with innovations, creations and revelations beyond many people’s wildest dreams. The technology from the decade you just survived would have made Newton applaud, Tesla smile and Da Vinci giggle with glee. Go to the next page to see are our picks for the best technologies from this past decade.