In a world where technological advancements get superannuated in a matter of months, it made eminent sense for us to roll out the first edition of the Time Out Tech Awards mid-way through the year. In the months past, tablets, hybrid devices and cloud storage (not to forget apps such as Instagram and Hipstamatic) have been the most handsome buzzwords floating around; 2012 has already been defined as the year that went on to revolutionise the fields of personal tech, fitness, portable music, computing on the move, and even reading.

We parsed this data, weeded out the fanciful trends and punched our way through a thorny thicket of technological contrivances to arrive at the two principles that informed the choosing of the winners in each of the categories in the Tech Awards. First, we were determined not to list every single one of the googolplex of nominees that made it to each category. Second, and more important, we were resolute in our intention not to accord prizes through a hackneyed list of “best mobile”, “hottest laptop”, “grandest this” and “greatest that” categories. Instead, we decided to focus on you – the end user, who gets to play around with all this mind-blowing gadgetry. We decided to accompany you on an average daily routine – from the hour you wake up right upto the whacky stuff that might keep you up late.

In the pages that follow, Time Out looks at the year’s most groundbreaking, thought-provoking innovations, so far. You’re likely to find obvious mentions missing (apologies, Bose). But with playfulness and fun in mind, we turned to ideas that have made a mark both in popularity and, more importantly, in terms of potential. To take you through the year’s most out-of-the-box tech innovations, we introduce to you The Gizmo (on cover), the Time Out Tech Awards mascot, which symbolises our attempt to find the most stellar technological designs and concepts around – and all the stuff you can expect in the months that follow.