For the 5th year in a row, New York Times columnist David Pogue has come up with the Pogie Awards, identifying the best tech ideas of the year. It's a tough job as Pogue readily admits because the criteria are not the best products of the year, but the best ideas that have made it past the usual obstacles of cost and engineering.

Here are some of them:

• Droid Docks - This is an app phone with a slide-out keyboard. The winner isn't the phone--it's the dock. The dock can suction to the phone. You can slip the phone into it and sensors will automatically fill the Droid's screen with Google's new GPS navigation software.
• ITYPE2GO - This is an idea to deal with dangerous text messaging. We're not sure about this one. It superimposes what you are typing over a live camera view so you can see where you're going even while you're focused on the screen. We still think multi-tasking is a bad idea when you are driving.
• MIFI - This is a tiny, credit card-sized, personal, portable, powerful, password-protected wireless hot spot. You now have a Wi-Fi hot spot in your pocket, purse or laptop bag. And this, we think, is a very good idea.
• FIND MY PHONE - This is the one we like the best. Apple has an incredibly useful element of its $100-a-year MobileMe Service. On the me.com website, with one click, you can see where your iPhone is on a zoom-able map.

For more on this year's Pogie awards:
- check out this New York Times article

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