My top five products of 2014: Mike Rose

It's been all apps, all the time around here as we wrap up our favorites of 2014. For a change of pace, I thought I'd pull together my favorite five products that don't necessarily require a visit to the App Store.

Apple Pay & Touch ID (included with iPhone 6/6 Plus, coming for Watch). It doesn't feel good to skip an iPhone generation, as much as we claim to be "waiting for the next one" or "really fine with the phone I have now." In my case, a work-owned iPhone 5 was holding its own when the 5s premiered, and I couldn't really justify forking over the monthly service costs for a second phone. As a result, my first real Touch ID experience, on my recently upgraded 6 Plus, coincided almost exactly with the launch of Apple Pay.

I can't say it strongly enough: Apple Pay is what Touch ID was built for, and it's one of the most vivid examples of Apple's user-first interaction design I've ever had the pleasure of using. Touch ID on its own is dandy; the iOS 8-enabled use of the thumbprint unlock in third-party apps (1Password! Finally!) and in the App Store makes it especially useful, as if unlocking your device at a touch wasn't enough. (I'd only had my new phone a few days before I found myself grumbling as I picked up my iPad -- "What, I gotta put in my passcode? Like a caveman?")

But oh my, Apple Pay. Putting the power of the payment network and NFC hardware behind that little fingerprint sensor triggers a seismic shift in the way I think about using my iPhone every day. From prescriptions at Duane Reade to supplies at Staples to rides in NYC taxicabs, I'm constantly looking for new places to pay with a touch. No surprise that Apple's feel-good payment platform is beginning to transform our relationship with the overstuffed old-fashioned wallet.

STM Linear for MacBook Air 13" (stmbags.com, about US$60). I'll confess that when I bought myself an STM Linear shoulder bag, it was a consolation purchase; my original object of desire was the elite and often sold-out Tom Bihn Ristretto. I was looking for a shoulder bag in a vertical profile, keeping the laptop upright and providing a lean silhouette as I carried my gear around at trade shows or meetings.

Since the Bihn bag wasn't in stock when I went looking, I fell back to the STM -- and I haven't regretted it for a moment (nor did I mind that the STM bag is about half the price of the Ristretto). The Linear has enough space for the MacBook, an iPad, cables cords etc. without feeling cramped or overpacked, and the smaller capacity vs. a messenger bag or backpack keeps me from overloading when I step out the door.

The Roost Stand (therooststand.com, $75). After meeting the Denver-based Roost team at Macworld/iWorld in the wake of their successful Kickstarter, I thought this unusual foldout laptop stand would be a great fit for my desk. It's portable, light and tough as a Colorado winter, and can be adjusted as needed to hold most portables securely.

What I didn't expect was how viral the Roost would become; at least four co-workers have gone ahead and bought their own Roosts in the months since. If you work in an office, be sure to put your name on your Roost so it doesn't wander off.

iMac Retina 5K (apple.com, starting at $2499). Who says the desktop is dead? Apple's jaw-dropping all in one model reset the notion of what a desktop PC should look like, even with a wallet-busting sticker price (in fairness, Dell's 5K monitor alone would have cost as much as the iMac, if not for a price drop after Apple's introduction).

The Retina iMac is so delicious that even jaded tech writers find themselves compelled, like the NY Times' Farhad Manjoo, to take one home and give it a prominent place on their desks. I haven't replaced my 2011-vintage iMac just yet, but when I do I'll be saving up for the Big Kahuna.

Jawbone ERA (jawbone.com, $99/$129 with charging case). I have never had much luck with Bluetooth headsets; whether it's fit or function, they just don't seem to work for me. Other than LG's Tone Pro around the neck headphones -- which provide great stereo sound at the cost of mediocre phone calls and "looking like a huge dork" -- I hadn't found a solid choice.

That's why I've been so pleased with the new-generation Jawbone ERA, which works great for phone calls and conferences without being horribly obvious. Jawbone's noise reduction is adequate to a busy city street, and with the current firmware the hardware button can serve as a mute switch on calls (life-changing). The ERA is not cheap, but if you've struggled to find a headset that works the way you do, it's worth a look.

Honorable Mention: Pebble (getpebble.com, $99/$199). It's black-and-white, not color. It's not touchable or speakable. It is decidedly not an Apple watch, but in many ways it's a better first wearable than a yet-to-ship Watch could be.

Why do I enjoy my Pebble? Five days or more of battery life, for one thing. Waterproof enough to wear in the shower. Notifications that let me see who's calling, emailing, texting or tweeting at me without having to haul the 6 Plus out of my pocket fifteen times an hour. And a reasonably active app/developer community delivering cool hacks on a regular basis.

No, I won't promise not to look longingly at the next shiny device coming from Cupertino soon. But I'll be looking with the benefit of a lot of experience with the first generation of wrist-based tech.