Award Categories

Award Categories

There are seven award categories in the Golden Paw Awards, including awards for most overrated and underrated products, as well as an award for the biggest game-changer.

The ‘Luke I am your Father’ Award

This award is given for what the developers felt was the most impactful news event of 2012.

Runners-Up

The three runners-up for the “Luke I am your Father” award are YouTube and Facebook (twice).

And the Winner Is …

Apple and Samsung, for their ongoing legal dispute over patents, with the developers cheering Samsung’s initial win.

The ‘Great Pyramid—How in the Blazes Did They Do it?’ Award

This award goes to what the developers and testers see as the biggest tech success for 2012.

Runners-Up

The runners-up for this award are YouTube, Kickstarter and cell phone networks.

And the Winner Is …

Google’s driverless cars. In May 2012, Nevada was the first state to let Google test a driverless Toyota Prius on its roads.

The ‘Titanic’ Award

The Titanic award goes to the most epic tech flop.

Runners-Up

The runners-up for the Titanic award are Nokia, Windows 8 and Facebook.

And the Winner Is …

Apple Maps for iOS 6. Apple decided that with its new operating system, it would replace Google Maps with a map app of its own. The problem was that Apple Maps was flawed and had to be yanked, costing several executives their jobs.

The ‘Spork’ Award

This award goes to the most underrated product in technology.

Runners-Up

The runners-up for this award are Cubify, Windows 8 and the Microsoft Surface.

And the Winner Is …

Google’s Chromebook, which comes preinstalled with Google’s Chrome operating system and a host of cloud-based Google services and products. Most recently, vendors like Hewlett-Packard, Acer and Samsung have rolled out their own Chromebooks.

The ‘Best Thing Since Sliced Bread’ Award

This award goes to the most overrated product of 2012.

Runners-Up

The runners-up are Google Chromebooks, as well as Windows 8 and the Surface, both from Microsoft.

And the Winner Is …

Apple’s iPhone 5, which the company released to great fanfare in September 2012.

The ‘Hulk Smash’ Award

This award goes to the breakthrough technology of the year.

Runners-Up

The runners-up are big data, HTML5 and 3D printing.

And the Winner Is …

Cloud services, which are helping businesses create more flexible, agile and dynamic IT environments.

The ‘Up-Up-Down-Down-Left-Right-Left-Right-B-A’ award

This Golden Paw award goes to the biggest game changer of 2012.

Runners-Up

The runners-up are Amazon, Dropbox and Microsoft.

And the Winner Is …

Google. The developers and testers touched on a wide array of Google accomplishments, from the driverless car to Chromebooks to even Google+, in picking the company for the award.