Another year has come and gone and with it, a cavalcade of gadgets. Here are a few that I’ve really enjoyed using during the past year, in no particular order.

T-Mobile G1

As an iPod Touch owner, I’ve been tempted more than a few times to purchase an iPhone. Her siren’s song is mesmerizing – beautiful and bountiful, multi-touching its way up my shirt, burrowing a hole in my heart, and laying eggs. As far as mobile phones go, I felt like I’d been out to sea for a long time. I almost couldn’t resist.

But when the T-Mobile G1 was announced, I knew it’d be a better fit for me, as 1) I don’t use a Mac — not like that’s a deal-breaker — and 2) I use a fair amount of Google products and services and figured the first-hand integration would benefit me more.

I’d been historically using Windows Mobile devices, intermingled amongst brief flirtations with BlackBerry products, but the first time I fired up the G1 and found all my G-Mail messages looking back at me labeled, synchronized, and familiarly navigated, it became clear that Android had burrowed a separate (but equally important) hole in my heart, laid its own eggs, and those eggs hatched and ate the iPhone’s offspring.

Aluratek Internet Radio Alarm Clock

There are a LOT of streaming audio devices out there, and I’ve found the Aluratek Internet Radio Alarm Clock to be a great choice thanks to its compact size, easy-to-use interface, great audio quality, and USB thumb drive option. The radio sits atop the refrigerator in our house and I use it just about every day. I’ll pull up the morning show I used to listen to when I lived in Minnesota or one of the stations I used listen to when I lived out in Seattle while I’m eating breakfast and then I’ll use the USB port to listen to podcasts and other stuff I’ve recently downloaded.

Since it’s an alarm clock, too, I’ve set it up to automatically start playing stuff every morning, so there’s always something on. I’d love to see it come down in price, as I still think $160 is too expensive. Once it hits $99 or so, it’ll be a no-brainer.

Samsung SC-MX20 Camcorder

Best… camcorder… ever… (for my needs, of course). The Samsung SC-MX20 has a 34x optical zoom, flip-out viewfinder with 2.7-inch screen, and it uses SD cards to record 720×480 H.264 video that easily works with my video editing software (Sony Vegas).

It can be found for about $200, which is a steal if you ask me, since cheaper flash-memory camcorders with no optical zoom and fussy file formats can cost just as much or marginally cheaper. Battery life is great, too, at well over two hours, and the Schneider lens picks up more-than-decent images for such an inexpensive camera.

RichardSolo Backup Battery for iPhone/iPod

The 1200mAh lithium ion Richard Solo Backup Battery for iPhone/iPod has served me well as a very-pocketable extended battery solution for my iPod Touch. One of the best features is that the battery and the iPod can charge at the same time.

I only need to find one outlet or USB port and any standard mini-USB cable works – I don’t have to root around for my iPod cable. At $50, too, there’s not a whole lot to think about, especially if you find yourself constantly needing to recharge.

Photoland TR+ Camera Bag with Padded Laptop Compartment

In my search for the perfect bag — one that can hold both my laptop AND an SLR camera without being too bulky or expensive – I finally, finally found something in the Photoland TR+ while I was in Japan.

It cost about $60, fits my 13.3-inch Sony laptop and Canon DSLR, and features both a shoulder strap AND backpack straps that fold into their own pocket.

It’s got a removable six-way camera accessory divider inside that I can take out if I’m going somewhere without my camera. To slim the bag down, there are four side-cinch straps that flatten the entire thing to little more than a standard-size messenger bag.

Plantronics .Audio 650 USB Headset

If you’ve ever been listening to our podcast and thought, “Wow, Doug sure does sound great this week – and every week, for that matter,” it’s all because of this headset.

The Plantronics .Audio 650 has blocked out a clanging, off-balance washing machine, numerous phone calls and doorbell ringings, and one memorable conversation one room away between my wife and sister-in-law that was well above “indoor voices.”

By day, the headset doubles as a great pair of headphones for music, too.

Acer Aspire One Netbook

Any netbook would do, really, but it just so happens that I have the Acer. The thing’s been great for couch-side surfing and quick coffee shop write-ups, as well as the occasional SimCity 3000 fix. I’ve taken it away on long weekends and haven’t yet felt the urge to lug my full size notebook with me.

The Aspire One worked well out of the box, but it really started to hum once I added an extra gig of RAM and loaded up Windows XP. As the resident cheapskate at CrunchGear, I’ve always been a fan of Acer’s aggressive pricing when it comes to this machine, too.

That’s It

Happy Holidays to everyone. I’ve been here a year and a half now and all of you have made this the greatest job a kid like me could have ever asked for — thanks a million for reading!