#3 India's Aakash 2, the world's cheapest tablet: Its first version was virtually unusable. Version 2 is a dramatic change: Smarter, lighter, better software, and with a four-hour battery, making it the first usable sub-Rs 5k tablet we've ever tested in our labs. (Now, there are others, such as the BSNL Penta 709C; and a range of sub-Rs 10k tablets.) If supplier Datawind gets over its supply issues, this is a game-changer.

#4  Cybercrime's adolescence: This was the year cyber-crime matured from amateurish attempts from Nigeria, to a wave that hit most Indian internet users. Hacked Facebook and Twitter accounts, hijacked Gmail and bank accounts, stolen funds, hacked government websites, orchestrated attacks from China: We went through it all.

But we've seen mere glimpses so far, the tip of an iceberg, a teenager saying "Baby, you ain't seen nothin' yet." The Chinese curse "May you live in interesting times" was probably about cybercrime 2013. But that is another story.

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