Some of today's promising upstart companies will become tomorrow's household brands. To profit from their rise, though, you've got to find them before they hit the mainstream.
That's where the annual "Best of What's New" rundown in Popular Science magazine can help. Five years ago, this feature highlighted the hybrid Toyota
Toyota's stock has consistently crushed the S&P 500 benchmark in the half-decade since PopSci gave Prius the nod. I've even invested in these PopSci picks, as discussed on our Rule Breakers message boards. The potential for making real money compels me to pay attention to this yearly feature. Let's see what this year's most promising investment-grade scoops are.
The best of the best
While there are many mouthwatering technologies in this year's feature, many of them don't really apply to investors today. The Amazon.com
So let me instead focus on what the magazine crowned the "Innovation of the Year" instead: the Sony
Looking back at this magazine in five or 10 years, the 11-inch XEL-1 may look about as quaint as 2003's Dell Jukebox music player does today. The concept is there, waiting to be developed into a truly remarkable moneymaker. However, there's no clear frontrunner here, as there was when Apple took charge of the media-player market with its game-changing iPod.
One last point: if you can't decide which electronics peddler is most likely to take a lead in this sea change, feel free to invest in the technologists that will collect license fees for OLED gadgets sold -- companies like Universal Display
Further Foolishness: