Everyone has a story about some favorite mixtape they had. Books have been devoted to elegiac tales of romance spooled onto Maxell cassettes—there are countless stories in this world about how each tape told tales of moondances and Lucy in the sky or colored girls who went doo-dee-doo-dee-doo. They were decorated with Lisa Frank stickers or drawings of Debbie Harry; the songs were grouped in themes, or started out slow and then picked up the beat, or they were about love without ever actually mentioning the word "love." Wasn't it so cute the way you had to use a pencil to wind the tape whenever it got tangled? Or you used scotch tape to fix a break. You have that story, don't you. Well, screw you. I'm sitting over here with an old compilation CD, and he's about had it with all the cassette adulation.

The year 2000 was a low period for mixtapes. Today cassettes have become a kind of pop-art symbol. You can't throw a stone on Etsy without finding a tape-inspired iPhone cozy or ring or soap. Earlier in the decade, however, cassettes just seemed old and silly. Why oh why would you want to make a mix tape when you could fit so many more songs on a CD? What's more, you could add songs using Napster.

Oh, Napster. My boyfriend found 30 versions of "Happy Birthday," burned them onto a disc and gave them to me when I turned 20. He had splurged and bought a computer that could burn discs. I then listened to them using the CD player in my PC! I had a stereo, but putting it in the computer made it feel extra special. The multi-functionality of it all! What could possibly happen next? The coffee maker would probably start making cereal.

Today, we expect that each of our gadgets can pinch hit for every other gadget, but back then this kind of versatility actually meant something. Oh, what is that you're saying, mix CD? If you broke, you could be replaced unlike your cassette brethren? And you could carry how many songs? And no one had to constantly jump up to press "stop" on the radio when a song ended. You didn't even need to use Napster—you could rip your own CDs to MP3s and then put hundreds songs on a single disc. Hallelujah.

In 2000, my friend Daisy made me a mix CD. She was junior at Mount Holyoke. It was mostly filled with Indigo Girls songs, but still. She's not the most technologically savvy person in the world, so I was impressed. Not only had she curated a set of several dozen songs, but she actually went to the computer lab! Just for me. Now that's friendship.

My old cassettes are caked with dust on a shelf in a closet. And the mix CD, you ask? The music is in my iPod and the disc itself? It's right here under my coffee mug, working to keep my tabletop unmarred. Like I said: it's all about the multi-functionality.

Anna Jane Grossman will be with us for the next few weeks, documenting life in the early aughts, and how it differs from today. The author of Obsolete: An Encyclopedia of Once-Common Things Passing Us By (Abrams Image) and the creator of ObsoleteTheBook.com, she has also written for dozens of publications, including the New York Times, Salon.com, the Associated Press, Elle and the Huffington Post, as well as Gizmodo. She has a complicated relationship with technology, but she does have an eponymous website: AnnaJane.net. Follow her on Twitter at @AnnaJane.

Top CC shot from smohundro on Flickr

Last updated December 8th, 2009 but we'll update this list as the new stuff replaces the old and crusty. We read and write reviews so you don't have to!

Smartphones

• The Best Smartphones: We like the iPhone, the Motorola Droid because it runs Android 2.0 operating system, and the Palm Pre for people who have stuck with Sprint. We do not like anything Symbian or Windows Mobile 6.5, for the time being. (But are excited for Windows Mobile 7.)

• Cheapest Android Phones: Droid Eris and HTC Hero.

• The Best Smartphones, By Carrier: We sorted out theses answers on Nov 24th, but this category moves quickly so stay sharp when researching.

• Best Windows Mobile Phone We Wish Didn't Run Windows Mobile 6.5: The HTC HD2

• Best BlackBerry: If you're into phones with exceedingly reliable push email, the Bold 9700 is your phone. (We don't like Blackberry's touchscreen interfaces, so the Storms are no good.)

• Non-Smartphones: You mean dumbphones? No thank you.

Computers

• Netbook: If you must get one of these small, cheap and utterly slow machines, the HP Mini 311 with ion graphics is a good one. The Samsung N140 along with the Toshiba mini NB205 are also excellent picks.

• Netbook for Hackintoshing: Dell Mini 10v (and it must be the v) is the top choice. Here's our guide to making it run OS X.

• Laptop: Our bias for OS X and Windows 7 becomes apparent in our choice of hardware that can run both without hacking. Macbook Pros. (Plus, we like unibody construction.)

• Best Non-Apple Laptops: Dell's Adamo XPS may not be fast but it is "insane," raising the bar on design and quality outside of Cupertino. We also like Thinkpads in general, like the X series and the new multitouch t400s. (It's probably also worth noting that Asus and Toshiba recently came out on top in reliability.) And here are our faves at every pricepoint.

• Gaming Laptops and Desktops: Our friend Will Smith at Maximum PC likes these two laptops and two desktops. I personally like Xbox.

• All in One: We like the iMac, the HP Touchsmart and although we haven't used it yet, the Sony Vaio L because it can double as a TV even when the PC is off. The PCs here have infrared touchscreens, so they do multitouch, but in a really shoddy way.

• MIDs: We hate MIDs. Always have, always will. Intel said they had the tech to make them; but the world never had the need. It either fits in a backpack and lets you do real work on a real screen and keyboard, or it fits in your pocket. There's no real need for anything inbetween.

• Operating Systems: Windows 7 or Snow Leopard

• Network attached storage: We like the HP Mediasmart series with upnp, iTunes and Time Machine servers among other things. But the Iomega NAS is only a little less fancy and costs half the price.

Audio

• The Best receiver under $1000: We haven't tested one in awhile, but we're going to go out on a limb and say we like Onkyo, Denon, Yamaha and Pioneer gear. While some of our own testing is in progress, we'll go with what our friends at Sound and Vision like: The Onkyo TX-SR706 7.1 receiver with 4HDMI ports and THX certification for $900.

• The Best High-End Portable Media Players: Zune HD and the iPod Touch. We Like the Zune pass system a lot, which allows you to keep 10 songs a month out of your unlimited downloads, even after you stop subscribing. But the iPod Touch's large app library makes it a powerful little computer.

• Best high-capacity media player: iPod classic is pretty much the only one left, since Zune has been discontinued and Archos is a mess.

• Flash Media Drives: We've always loved the screenless shuffle's utility, but there are other drives to be had with more functionality for cheaper. Especially now that the buttonless iPod shuffle is sort of annoying to use. We like the Sandisk Sansa Clip+.

• Surround Soundbar: There's only one series of soundbars that uses cold war submarine tech to bounce soundwaves off your walls for surround, and they're made by Yamaha. I tested the YSP-4000.

• iPod Speaker Dock: JBL OnStage 400p (A winner from last year — I'm almost certain we should be retesting this category)

Video

• Best HDTV under $1000: Panasonic's X1 series plasmas, and four more here.

• Best HDTVs, period: Here.

• 1080p Projectors Under $1000: The Vivitek H1080FD is one we like, although we have not tested many.

• Best Monitors: If your'e a Mac user, the 24-inch Cinema Display has a built in magsafe adapter. The Asus 23-inch VH236H is good deal at about $230, but Samsung and Dell are our solid choices for monitor brands, as well.

• The Best Pocket Projectors: There is no such thing, friend. Wait a generation or 3.

• Blu-ray player: The LG BD390 with WiFi with Netflix and DivX playback is awesome, but we'll never leave out the PS3!

• Media Streamers for People Who Hate iTunes or Love Piracy: The WDTV Live is a good one for people who like it easy, but hackers will probably choose Popcorn Hour, both which did well in our battlemodo. However, the current king is the Asus O!Play, which also wins an award for worst use of an exclamation point in a name.

Cameras

• Best Entry-Level Video-Capable DSLR: Canon T1i

• Best Midrange DSLR: The Nikon D90 has the same sensor as the D300 at a better price.

• Best Prosumer DSLRs: The Canon 7D is great at shooting video and has great low light performance for an 18MP camera.

• Best Flash Camcorder: The Flip Ultra HD.

• Best Quality Point and Shoot: We like the Canon G11 (which is pretty big, but pretty wonderful.)

• A Camcorder We Like: We haven't tested any in awhile, but we tend to like DSLRs that shoot video or cheap flash camcorders. If you must have a camcorder, our friends at CamcorderInfo drafted this list with the best at every price.

• Best Point and Shoot: We like the Canon S90, even though we're sure there are slimmer cameras. This uses the same sensor as the G11 and a faster lens, so it takes great shots for a slim.

• Best Rugged Cameras: The Pentax W80 is the best all around camera because of it's depth and temperature ratings and size. The Lumix has the best picture quality but is a bit of a wimp with low thresholds for dives and temperatures. Canon's the best for water only because of its huge nose. And the outstandingly rugged Olympus has a fatal flaw, which is its terrible video.

• Best Helmet Camera: We love the GoPro Hero HD Wide because it mounts anywhere, is really waterproof and lives in a protected case. Plus, 1080p for $250 bucks.

• Best Slow Motion Pocket Camera: Casio EX FC100

Random Stuff

• The Best iPhone Apps: Here's our monthly list of iPhone Apps, as well as our weekly roundups of the best new releases.

• The best GPS: It's really hard to justify these when smartphones are doing so well with their turn by turn apps. But they still need car docks and some of their UIs are not great, so if you want a dedicated unit, bide your time with the cheapest Garmin Nuvi you can find. Usually about $125 at Amazon.

• The Best iPhone GPS Apps: Motion X GPS is our favorite value GPS app, but ALK's CoPilot is another cheap champ. Navigon is still the classiest, but it costs a lot. (We're hoping for free Google Maps with Navigation to come to iPhone.)

• The Best Android Apps: There aren't as many Android apps out, but here are the ones we think are worth checking out.

• Ebook reader: Now that we've reviewed the Barnes & Noble Nook, we can safely say there are finally two great contenders. But until Nook gets some firmware updates making it smoother and quicker, Amazon's latest Kindle will remain king.

• USB drive: The Patriot Xporter is fast, but if you have cash to spare, the Corsair Voyager GT is slightly faster and has 128GB of space.

• The Best Video Game Console: Xbox 360

• The Best Video Service: Anything, really, combined with Hulu and Netflix (for free old stuff).

• Best mid-tier office chairs: Herrman Miller Setu and Steelcase Cobi.

• Vacuums: We will always be loyal to Sir James Dyson because he tried to sell bagless vacuum tech to big vacuum corporations and they shut him down motivated by the profitability of bag sales. Then he started his own company. His machines are loud, but you can't argue with their industrial design. Here's his latest handheld and ball vacuum.

• Routers: D-Link Dir685. I know it has a digital picture frame built into it, but it also has a HDD and a bittorrent client. And Jason says it's been more reliable than the top line Linksys he tested it against. I also like the Time Capsule, but haven't yet tested the one with 2x the wireless performance.

• The Best Headphones: For in ear buds, we like the Shure SE110/SE115, Ultimate Ears Metro.fi and Etymotics hf5 won our tests. (The Last updated August 2008, so look for updates to winners.) We like the Klipsch Image S4i earbuds for people who want to use the iPhone's voice control or iPod shuffle's Voiceover function. For Bluetooth stereo headsets, we like the Motorola s305.

• Rechargeable Batteries: Duracell destroyed Energizer, and kept up with the legendary Sanyo Enerloops.

• Mice: For gaming, the Microsoft Sidewinder X8. The Logictech MX1100 for regular mousing. And the Magic Mouse is not amazing, but it's pretty good if you have a Mac—the best mouse Apple has ever made.

• Keyboard: We like the Logitech DiNovo.

Suggestions? Requests for review? Leave em in the comments or email us!

Do you find yourself resenting your iPhone for its complexity? Do you wish you could do away with pesky text messages and confusing navigation applications and all that augmented reality? Though it's currently only available through the Cydia store, with iClassic and a little tinkering can dumb your iPhone down into the iPod you never had. Or the one you once had and replaced with your iPhone. [MobilitySite]

It sounds pretty lame, but apparently USA Track and Field rules state that elite runners competing for USATF championships or cash prizes aren't allowed to use electronic devices. Everyone else is free to.

Adding to the whole mess, Goebel was only made the winner after the fastest woman was earlier disqualified for accepting a water bottle from a friend, instead of just official water stations. On a forum debating the water incident, a photo of Goebel using the iPod turned up, and then the shit hit the fan. Again.

"If they're going to disqualify me for having an iPod they should disqualify everyone who had one. It's just a little ridiculous. I went there to have a fun race with my friends. If you're bored, it pumps you up a little bit."

I hear ya, but rules are rules, I guess. [JSOnline via The Sporting Blog]

Bose SoundDock 10 sits a few notches above any of its stablemates, both in size and price—this thing is as heavy as a stereo receiver, and about a foot tall. (Asked about the size, a Bose engineer said that he liked to think of it as transportable, not portable. Uh!) I'm not really sure what the significance of the "10" moniker is, but if Apple can randomly assign nice, round, out-of-order numbers to their products, why can't Bose, hmm?

They've done something kinda cool with the dock connector, which can be swapped out to suit different players, or, if you've got an extra $150 laying around, a stereo Bluetooth adapter, which feels like it should've been built in there in the first place, honestly. Bose threw in a composite video port for good measure, so you can view photos and videos on your TV.

Anyway, portability isn't really the point here, since this thing is meant to sit on a table—probably a well-polished one, in an immaculate, nautical-themed sitting room—and pretty much fill the role that the Wave radios used to: To be smaller than a proper stereo, but not to sound like crap. In fact, there's a lot of shared DNA there, since the SoundDock 10 uses the same scrunched audio waveguide piping that made the Wave radios sound, well, kinda big. And for what it's worth, the SoundDock 10 sounds even bigger, mostly thanks to this:

This here lump of speaker accompanies two "Twiddlers," which is Bose speak for "tweeters that do midrange, too, we promise." Together they throw respectable sound, which is surprisingly powerful at the very low end, and phenomenally clear in the rest of the range, most of the time. Classical music, Bose's demo genre of choice, sounds predictably great, but anything noisier, like rock music, starts to blend together, reminding you that you're still listening to an iPod dock. Which you are!

That's the obvious hangup with the SoundDock 10: It's $600, and it a dock. Granted, it's easily the best iPod dock I've ever heard, but it's still recognizable as such, and it's not that much cheaper than a real two-speaker stereo system. But hey, it's also a dock in the good way—it's easy to connect things to, to move around, and it won't clutter up your room with wires—so if those are your top priorities, docks don't get much better than this. The SoundDock 10 will be available from Sept 21. [Bose]

Apparently, this adjustment could come before next year's hardware refresh—"without warning" as one source put it. The source also claimed that the upgrade would happen only with the 32 and 64GB versions of the touch and would not affect current pricing. Should this information affect your buying decision? No, it's just a rumor after all. But chances are Apple will end up caving on this sooner or later. Jobs claims that the decision was about keeping costs down, but all of the chatter seems to indicate that having a camera on the touch might be a dealbreaker. [ipodnn]

Here's the new iPod Nano. The paint is less matte, more shiny. The corners seem less sharp (a previous complaint of mine). But physically, it's about the same. The differences are inside.

The camera hole is on the bottom left of the face, so you end up putting your fingers over the lens and mic a lot if you're right handed. Slightly annoying.

The video recording is a capable 640x480, and there are 16 or so video effects you can overlay in real time onto your video. There's no zooming or editing, so this is barebones, but for quick video that you can take when you need it, it's pretty decent. Note: It does not take still photos.

Its pedometer functionality works as you'd expect. Same with the voice recorder—they're both straightforward, and the voice recorder is basically the same one you've seen on the iPhone.

The FM radio has the same problem that small devices have with radio in that you need to have your headphones in to get reception. Not a huge deal with the Nano, since you're going to always have your headphones in anyway. But we didn't get a chance to test FM reception since there were no headphones available.

All in all it feels exactly like the old Nano, except with new features—which is the point. So yeah, the polished/glossy finish looks very nice, and the new features like voiceover are useful if you're into that.

Have a look at our video, plus the full details.

Reeder has been sculpting mythological figures with modern gadgets for awhile (you can even buy them for a lofty price on his site), but they have been recently been put on display in San Fransisco. He (like most artists) obviously seems to prefer Apple products as he gave both Atlas and Pan iPods. Though his version of the Drunken Satyr passed out with a video game controller in his hand.

Hey Adam, let's put an Apple Tablet in the hand of Aphrodite, shall we? [Adam Reeder via AP]

The team has previously cracked the 2G Nano, but exploiting a vulnerability for further models involves tracking down the specific part of memory their code ends up. Testing these memory locations is painstaking, and there are tens of thousands of segments, and several iPods models to test.

The answer: Automate the button pressing with the Nanobot 3000. It can press three buttons if needed, operate independently overnight, and should be able to get through over 23,000 addresses a day. Clever. [Nanotron 3000 via Linux4nano via NYC Resistor via Hack A Day]

September is the normal time for new iPods to be released, so the question remains whether it's going to be a purely iPod and iTunes—including iTunes 9—announcement, or if the Apple Tablet will make an appearance. My guess is the former. [All Things D]

I have a 160GB Classic, as I thought I needed it. But with a 32GB iPhone, I end up leaving my iPod at home, even when traveling. I once had a fantasy that I'd sync a ton of video to it, to serve up. That fantasy was never realized, though, because these days it easy to just plug your laptop into a TV. I like having an iPod Touch in the house, however, because when my kid wants to watch videos, I'd rather give her that than my own phone. Besides, some apps like Sonos' controller and Apple's Remote are better suited to a device that lives in the living room. An iPod Touch with a camera makes sense, getting a step closer to the iPhone; it's an equally intuitive device for people who want to keep clear of AT&T.

Put a camera in the Nano, and the opposite occurs: It becomes a mystery object, something unlike all other products in the universe, and not in a good way. It would be something to learn, with even more buried mystery functions than it has right now.

Let's be honest, the Nano is built to play music. Video playback on that tiny screen is a joke, accelerometer or not, and I have never met a soul who actually stores calendars and contacts, or uses any other mini-app or game. Putting still more tech into the Nano is a mistake that companies other than Apple would make—sure, it will be "neat," but it's impractical and a waste of development.

The Classic is a different story, one of diminishing demand. Hard drive players are almost nowhere to be found, and there's discussion of late that the 1.8" hard drive is headed for extinction, because flash memory is finally cheap. I think Apple will still sell a Classic, at least until they can pop out 64GB flash iPod Touches for under $400, but I don't think they'll do anything to modify the current Classic in any meaningful way, and they certainly aren't going to go all the way to 240GB, even though it's possible.

If the Classic is justifiable for music library owners like me, but mostly a non-starter, the Nano's raison d'etre is being a "value" option. It's cheaper than the iPod Touch, which hovers at the $230 only to distance itself from the 16GB Nano, at $200. If Apple dipped that iTouch to $199, they'd sell fewer Nanos than they are selling now.

Screw the camera—what Apple should do is lower the Nano price even more. Samsung and SanDisk sell 8GB players for less than $100 now, and you can even find a few 16GB players in the $130 range. That's $50 to $70 lower than what Apple charges, and nowadays, most of those devices will play anything you buy from iTunes—little or no manipulation required. Meanwhile, almost all PMP development from other companies is geared to building a cheap iTouch replacement, not a Nano clone.

As Apple itself declared during their earnings call, "We expect traditional MP3 players to decline over time as we cannibalize ourselves" with iPhone and iPod Touch. They readily admit that iPod Touches sell like hotcakes while demand for clickwheel iPods has slackened. It's just a puzzle that when these devices should be on life-support, Apple seems to be want to push them further. [iPod/iTunes]

The con was simple (and old): A group of British con men showed the German bargain hunters a few iPods, laptops and other gear as "proof" of their authenticity; offered to sell them hundreds of second hand iPods at basement prices; and then proceeded to hand over a 4-lb. sack filled with potatoes instead.

They made off with about $972 for their efforts, along with the knowledge that they probably took advantage of people who were about to take those "iPods" and resell them again for a high markup. Too bad, so sad!

Regardless, the Polizei are on the case, and there no doubt will be a very large, bitter serving of German potato salad on someone's dinner table very soon—provided the authorities return their hard-earned wares, now evidence, in a timely fashion (pictured). [Orange - Thanks, Sigurd]

First, the Techcrunch take:

Apple has placed an order for a massive number of camera modules of the type that they include in the iPhone. These are inexpensive cameras, in the $10 range. And the size of the order, our source says, means they can only be used for one thing - the iPods.

That, and this report of a suspiciously perforated upcoming iPod Touch case. Not a terribly huge amount of information, but even so, such a move's objectives are immediately obvious: to enter, eat away at, and eventually obliterate the cheap camcorder space. Here's how it goes: Apple puts a camera in their iPod Touch; customers already eager buy an iPod are suddenly more eager; customers looking for a cheap pocket camcorder suddenly have a new, price-competitive option with a ton more features than the typical video-recording bricks of the genre.

The iPod Touch has always had near-parity with the iPhone in terms of features, barring the obvious cellular features. The other, non-cellular differences—lack of camera, microphone, and for a while, GPS—disturbed this parity, though one assumes they were necessary for reasons of price. Adding a camera would close the gap, mostly eliminating the annoying penalty of buying a Touch over an iPhone.

Techcrunch goes so far as to say the order is big enough to expect cameras in all iPods except the shuffle—a rumor we've heard bits and pieces of before. That'd be fine, I guess, but the Touch seems like a much more obvious (and practical and functional) choice: it's already got the screen, the software and connectivity it needs to be a competitive camera product; Apple just needs to give it eyes. [Techcrunch via GadgetVenue, Macrumors—Thanks, Matt!]

The offer expires on September 8th, and rebates can be claimed for a month after that. [Apple, Rebate Terms (PDF)]

The crime, which went down last Wednesday, was actually a little more elaborate: Two guys intercepted a car that had just pulled into a Des Moines, Iowa video store parking lot. The three guys in the car were somehow persuaded out of the car, and the two muggers stole the iPod, the guys' cellphones, and $390 in cash.

(I don't know about you, but the only person I know who walks around with $390 in cash also doesn't pay income tax, if you know what I mean. I'm guessing there's more to this story than just a simple mugging—but whatever.)

When the guy whose iPod was stolen reported it to the cops, and gave them a description of a playlist on there, the cops matched it with the iPod carried by the suspect.

Which brings me to:

Wilson's #1 Rule of Stealing iPods: Plug that sucker into iTunes and re-sync it right away. If you really love your victim's music enough to re-steal what you already stole (and what he probably stole in the first place, download Senuti, man. Don't be stupid! [Des Moines Register via Cult of Mac]

The patent shows that the iPod's new casing will be carved out of a single, large and thick block of sheet metal, making the device lighter, thinner and sturdier. Although it may be a significantly stronger product, with it being made out of one slab of metal, it seems that it would be harder to take the iPod apart for second-hand replacements and repairs, meaning that consumers would have to turn to Apple directly for all their iPod needs.

However, having it made out of one block of sheet metal would reduce the costs of creating it. Does this also mean it'll be cheaper for consumers as well? Please, Apple, let it be so. [iPodNN]

That bulky iPod color hangs tenuously from this girl's bikini. How impractical. That's not going to stay put once she runs towards you in slow motion in your mind. This particular model is from 2004, right before the shuffle was released in 2005, and years before the last and current gen's clip. How far we've come in beach-appropriate gadgets. [Snowking@Flickr]