The best technological products of 2016: the Golden Kitten award from Product Hunt

The second annual Golden Kitten Prize has come to an end . More than 200 products participated in 15 categories. Basically, 2016 was the year of bots. Star bots , support bots, translators bots, data bots, bot application store . Highly. Lot. Bots. More than 1,100 products have been listed on the Product Hunt in the " bots " section .

In addition, iMessage applications came onto the scene, along with the launch of iOS 10 and the Apple iMessage Store . The existence within the daily user communications entices many developers. Today in the iMessage section there are already more than 500 products.

This year was quite strong nostalgia (and Nintendo). The phenomenon of Pokemon Go riveted the attention of almost every person. And Nintendo added fuel to the fire, releasing the Super Mario Run and such iron as the Classic Mini and Nintendo Switch .

We also witnessed the revival of existing hardware, for example, Microsoft's preview of the future of desktop computers, and the eagerly awaited Apple MacBook Pro, equipped with a touch bar .

Google seriously put pressure on iron production:

• iPhone competitor with 3.5 mm headphone jack
• Virtuality cloth helmet
• Team 4k digital display
• New type of WiFi system
• Competitor Alexa

Distinguished Snapchat, having released sunglasses with an integrated camera as part of one of the best launch strategies .



In 2017, we are waiting for development in the field of video broadcasts ( Houseparty ), and many new options for the use of audio interfaces, for example, Apple AirPods , or Google Home and Amazon Echo.

Award Winners

How we chose the winners:

• Voting was available to all registered Product Hunt users
• The winner in each of the 13 product categories was determined by the maximum number of votes on December 18
• The links below are placed on the initial product launch posts, and not on the pages created for voting.

Technological product of the year

Winner: Gboard by Google

Second place: Pokemon GO

Gboard was one of the most interesting keyboards for iOS and quickly climbed to first place in the App Store. Last week, it finally launched on Android , and the application team, keeping its promise, recorded a video with dancing for each day that the application was in the first position in the Tech Product of the Year rating.



Day 1 , Day 2 , Day 3 , Day 4 , Day 7 , Day 9

The Sexiest Product of the Year

Winner: Tesla Model S P100D

Second place: Spectacles

Tesla Mode S P100D is the smartest serial car, accelerating from 0 to 60 miles / hour in 2.5 seconds. The electric sedan is ideal for a loud (but silent) exit for you and your family, and is worthy of this award.

Snap's Spectacles did not lag behind, and they were supported by an impressive exit-to-market strategy. The company managed to return the charm to vending machines.

Breakthrough of the Year

Winner: Tesla Solar Roof

Second place: Tesla Model 3

Tesla wins! Solar Roof, a roof of solar panels, is a real breakthrough that promises not only to bring renewable energy into homes, but also to make it stylish (and inexpensive). In the 15-minute video from October, their potential is described in detail.

Piece of iron of the year

Winner: Leaf

Second place: Microsoft Surface Studio

Despite the impressive line of gadgets from Google and the features of Microsoft Surface Studio, in 7 US states marijuana was legalized on election day, and we have to accept this democratic process and voices. Won Leaf.

Mobile application of the year

Winner: Tinycards by Duolingo

Second place: Hardbound

The race between Hardbound and Tinycards was tense, but in the end the interactive approach to learning from Duolingo won. I would especially like to mention other community favorites: Prisma , Anchor , Whale and Houseparty .

Apparently, to win, you must name your application in honor of Emoji.

The best program for desktop computers

Winner: Franz

Second place: Slack for Mac

Franz is a program for Windows, Linux and Mac that combines all popular communication programs, including Slack, WhatsApp, WeChat, HipChat, Messenger, Telegram, Google Hangouts, GroupMe, Skype, and t .d

The second place was taken by a new program for Mac from a company you could hear about.

IMessage Year Application

Winner: Momento

Second place: Giphy for iMessage

Momento is a small application that converts similar photos taken from the camera to a GIF. Launch iMessage and scroll through it to new memories in the form of GIF, which you have already forgotten.

Bot of the year

Winner: Letz

Second place: Nerdify Bot

Congratulations to the small Letz team from Macedonia for receiving the Golden Kitten award in this category. The race was intense, we competed in Letz, Nerdify Bot, and the Duolingo bot . Separately, we note Statsbot , a bot that includes Google Analytics in Slack.

Best Chrome Plugin

Winner: Toby

Second place: Ghost for Facebook

Today you can find an extension for Chrome for anything. Finding lies on Facebook , turning Google Calendar into a desktop application , changing the Product Hunt palette , and an extension that returns stars to Twitter .

The winner in this category, Toby, is the best way to organize browser bookmarks. Ghost for Facebook is a small hack that allows you to remain invisible in Facebook chat (talk without a mark about the time of the last visit).

Category "what a nafik"

Winner: Pee World VR

Second place: Snapbots

No words, just greetings.

Community selection Product Hunt

Winner: Siftery

Second place: Startup Pitch Decks

A special category, including the most popular projects, liked by members of the Product Hunt community. Congratulations to Vamshi , Ayan and the Siftery team: a place to open new products daily and distribute information about the people you use.

The best episode of the podcast

Winner: Becoming Superhuman: David Heinemeier Hansson

Second place: How to Build the Future: Mark Zuckerberg

First place this year could be taken from the episode How to Build the Future, released by start-up incubator Y Combinator, with Sam Altman and Mark Zuckerberg , but he had to be content with second place. Congratulations to Jonathan Levy for the Becoming Superhuman episode featuring the creator of Ruby on Rails, DHH .

Live Chat of the Year

Winner: Cyan Banister LIVE Chat

Second place: Everette Taylor LIVE Chat

Congratulations to the winner of the intense race, Cyan Banister, and encourage you to try both of these chats.

Creator of the year

Winner: Mubashar Iqbal

Second place: Lucy Guo

This year we have two new categories of awards in which the winner is selected on the basis of data, not voting. According to the data, in 2016, the best creators of the year on Product Hunt were: Lucy Guo, Mikael Cho, Moritz Kobrna, Mubashar Iqbal, Seth Louey, and also Ahmet Sülek, who nearly fell into the top five. If you click on the links with their names and go to the site in the "made" section, you can see the lists of products launched by them.

Mubashar Iqbal received first place for 12 products launched by him this year.

The best member of the community

Winner: Chris Messina

Second place: Kevin William David

And last but not least, the “best member of the community” category. There are too many of them to list, but according to the results of the calculation of the contribution to the community (comments, voting, etc.), Chris Messina won, a little ahead of Kevin David.

On this list of winners of the contest "Golden Kitten" of 2016 is completed, and we are waiting for you next year.