First, you should likely look at my report from last year for more details on the conference as I'll only mention new things.
Just like last year, trying to see everything was of course not possible, but knowing what to expect gave me a better chance to manage my time and plan for all the talks I wanted to see. This year I was able to attend several talks from pioneers in aviation, pilots who flew the U2, the SR71, as well as talks on night flying, and thunderstorms, and legendary pilots like Bob Hoover ( see video of what he can do ), or how Dick Rutan and Jeana Yeager flew Voyager, the first and only unrefueled flight around the world .
Slides from the talk on thunderstorms
Bob Hoover
Those talks were definitely worth it, and I'm quite happy to got to hear from pioneers in aviation before they're not around to tell their stories anymore.
For the rest, I went through all the expos in the hangars, spent some time with the nice folks from Seattle Avionics who've been hearing a lot from me on bug reports or feature improvements :) and I also went to check out the other moving map/flight planner/EFB solutions, and from what I saw, Voyager is still the winner (Vistanav of course has nice synthetic vision, but they were lacking on the flight planning and EFB sides last year, and didn't show up at Oshkosh this year from what I could see).
A few notable things I saw this year outside of the great airshows, and finally being able to see the F22 perform, were unexpected things like a working jetpack (with a projected flight time of 30mn) and the first prototype of the terrafugia flying car.
Frasca had a very convincing SR22 simulator
Some exhibit was using a corvette LS1 engine with a gear reduction ratio as a plane engine
Impressive little plane (the biggest cargo lifter)
How Virgin Galactic will take you to space for a mere $200,000
Trainer U2
The first terrafugia car/plane prototype (should drive and fly this year)
Yes, yes, a working jetpack from Martin (not for sale yet, still being tested)
F
2
2 :)
Nice planes brought by attendees in the warbird section
this guy was looked like he was barely able to take off :)
Rocket Racers
I have many more pictures, you can find them in the EAA Airventure 2008 pictures and videos ( especially the airshow )