2011, as you may have noticed, is finally over. And what a year it was in tech. The news just kept on coming, and while some of it was sad (the passing of Steve Jobs), alarming (the PlayStation Network break-in), or just plain weird (Qwikster!), it was never tedious.

Technologizer has never set out to be a plain-vanilla tech news site, so what gets read around here isn’t a snapshot of the year’s most momentous stories. Instead, it’s something a bit more idiosyncratic: a gumbo of major events, personal observations, history, and more. Basically, it’s what I and my fellow Technologizer scribes thought you’d find interesting.

And here are the 25 stories that you found to be most interesting–as ranked by the number of people who read them.

1.Whatever Happened to the iPad Alternatives of 2010? (September)

• I take a look back at scads of tablets announced soon after the original iPad.

2. PlayStation Network Down Indefinitely, Again. (May)

• For awhile, all anybody wanted to read about on the Internet was the PlayStation Network outage. Jared Newman covered it in a series of stories.

3. How the iPad 2 Became My Favorite Computer (December)

• On my stubborn refusal to believe that the iPad isn’t a good device for creating content.

4. A Brief History of Apple Not Buying Things (July)

• People keep thinking Apple is about to buy large, famous companies. People keep being wrong.

5. Is Samsung’s New Galaxy Tab Fibbing About Its Figure? And About Those Galaxy Tab Fans…

• At CTIA, controversy arises over the exact dimensions of a new Samsung tablet–and I notice that the real people in a video don’t look too real.

6. PlayStation Network is Down For  Day or Two (April)

• Jared’s first PSN outage story, when it looked like no big deal.

7. My Mom Reviews the iPad, Her First Computer (March)

• David Worthington interviews his mother, who never owned a computer until she got an iPad.

8. Polaroid’s SX-70: The Art and Science of the Nearly Impossible (June)

• My exceedingly in-depth look at one of the most amazing gadgets of all time.

9. Osborne! (April)

• The story of the first portable PC, and the odd, remarkable man behind it.

10. Qwikster: Not to be Confused With Quixtar, QuickStar, Kwikster, Quickster, Kwik Star, Quik-Star, or Kickstar (September)

• Netflix’s new name for its DVDs-by-mail service sounds sort of familiar.

11. iPod Oddities (October)

• Benj Edwards celebrates a decade of Apple MP3 players with a look at some fun sidelights. (In terms of total page views, this slideshow was the #1 story of the year.)

12. The Legend of Zelda Oddities (February)

• Benj pays tribute to twenty years of Nintendo’s sword-and-sorcery epic. (This one was the #2 story in terms of page views.)

13. The Mac’s Malware Problem Just Got a Lot Worse (May)

• Ed Oswald explains that Mac Defender, the first piece of noteworthy Mac malware in a long time, has reared its ugly head again under a new name.

14. Steve Jobs, 1955-2011 (October)

• My first reaction to the news of Jobs’ passing was to share a favorite photo I’d taken of him.

15. Verizon’s iPhone 4 Tethering Reality Check (January)

• Ed notes that if you want tethering with the new Verizon iPhone, you’ll have to pony up some cash.

16. Saying Apple Will Never Do Something: Always Dangerous (April)

• Some folks are positive that Apple won’t get into the TV business. They should talk to the ones who were certain it wouldn’t make phones and tablets.

17. Steve Jobs Steps Down the First Time: The 1985 Press Coverage (August)

• How the world reacted when Apple decided it was better off without its co-founder.

18. Who’s Suing Who? A Cheat Sheet to the Mobile Patent Mess (April)

• An info graphical look at the ugly world of patent squabbling.

19. PlayStation Network Data Breach: It’s Really, Really Bad (April)

• Whoops! Sony lost PSN users’ personal info.

20. Remembering the Apple I (April)

• The first Apple gadget of them all, and why it mattered.

21. To Steven Jobs on His Thirtieth Birthday (October)

• A remarkable film, made by Steve Jobs’ colleagues in 1985.

22. Windows 8: The Verdict Isn’t in. (September)

• Why taking awhile to review tech products makes sense.

23. A Strange Sort of Prison, a Strange Sort of Freedom (October)

• Two open-source gurus think that Apple’s customers are idiots.

24. Some Quick Thoughts on GarageBand for iPad (March)

• Jared tries out Apple’s neat new music-creation app.

25. The Secret World of Alternative Operating Systems (May)

• Benj explores a bunch of OSes that aren’t Windows, OS X, or Linux–yes, there are lots of them.

Thanks to all of you for reading all this stuff–and for commenting, sharing, and otherwise being part of the community. You’re a smart, fun bunch to hang out with.

 
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