Hasta La Gadget!

Well another year is over, and it was loaded with triumph and tragedy as usual. But as usual, humankind persevered – at least when it came to their gadgets and geekery.

All tolled, we published over 3,700 posts this year, bringing our total since we launched in 2006 up to over 14,200 posts. And that’s just one of our two sites! We know that not all of you visit Technabob every day (we wish you would – so why not subscribe to our RSS Feed?), so in case you missed any of our biggest stories, here are the 30 most popular articles we posted in 2012…

#1: New iPad Announced

#2: iPhone 5 Announced

#3: Assassin’s Creed Hidden Blade Gauntlet Replica Can Be Yours for a Brotherly Price

#4: Assassin’s Creed 3 Trailer

#5: New 2012 iMac Slims Down

#6: Double Barrel 1911 Semi-Automatic Pistol

#7: Skyrim Canine Costumes: FUS RO DOG!

#8: World’s Coolest Marshall Amp is a Fridge!

#9: Assassin’s Creed Tomahawk Replica: Too Legit to Play with It

#10: New Father Uses Wii-mote, Lasers to Keep His Child Safe

#11: Bandra Ohm is the Coolest High-Rise Ever

#12: GoPro HERO3 Black Edition: Best Action Cam Yet?

#13: A Life-Size LEGO Forest Grows in the Australian Outback

#14: Custom Pokemon Onesies for Being Weird and Reenacting Battles of Old

#15: South Korean Girl Removes Makeup After Two Years, Now Looks Twice Her Age

#16: PS3 Slim Version 2 Announced

#17: Stormtrooper Latex Dress: The Empire Gets Sexy

#18: Brave Robotics Transforming Robot Car Rolls out

#19: Assassin’s Creed Kenway Jacket For All Of Your Parkour Needs

#20: LEGO to Give Away 2 Million Minifig Avengers Posters

#21: Clock Tower Hotel Room: Alone Time

#21: Star Wars Eyeglasses: Use Your Peepers, Luke!

#23: Star Wars Xbox 360 Slim: These Aren’t the Consoles You’re Looking For (Actually, They Are)

#24: Google Nexus 10 Announced

#25: Ferarri Knock-Off Cell Phones Defile the Ferrari Name

#26: Worst Apple Employee Name Ever?

#27: Star Wars Condoms Safely Wrap Your Lightsaber

#28: Torchlight II Hack Allows You to Reset Skills Infinitely: Respec My Dodge Mastery

#29: Retina MacBook Pro Announced

#30: Tongue-Controlled MP3 Player Makes You Look Like a Bond Villain

As you can see, there’s a pretty good variety of stuff, ranging from gadgets and video games, to geeky costumes, to the funny and just downright weird on the list. There’s also a typically large volume of Apple tech, and an atypically large amount of Assassin’s Creed stuff. Guess you guys couldn’t get your fill of Connor/Ratonhnhaké:ton this year.

Technabob continues to grow thanks to you guys. We ended the year with over 8.2 million unique visitors, and just over 15 million pages viewed on the site during 2012. And since we launched in 2006, we’ve had over 30 million unique visitors and 54 million pageviews. The mind boggles.

Thanks for another great year! Be sure to stop back by in 2013 for all sorts of cool stuff.

I’m a bit paranoid about getting my tech gear wet. I don’t mind using my phone in a light drizzle, but after a while, you have to pocket it. Have you ever been worried about getting your precious electronics wet? Then check out the this carrying pouch, which is supposed to keep all of your gadgets safe from the elements.

The SmithFly Digi Pouch has a roll-top design and it’s completely watertight. It’s crafted in the USA from 18 oz. vinyl, and is perfect for toting DSLR cameras, phones or anything else you’d consider mission-critical to your daily life. The pouch also has some Molle webs on a welded patch on the back of the bag. This means that it works with any Molle-webbed add-on – though those items obviously won’t be sheltered from the elements like the stuff inside of the bag.

The SmithFly Digi Pouch costs $60(USD) and is available right now.

[via Uncrate]

No matter how you feel about Apple, you have to admit that the company did change the smartphone world when it unveiled the first iPhone 5-1/2 years ago. Apple then came back and set the tablet world on its ear with the iPad. Now it’s possible that Apple could be set to try to change the world of wristwatches.

Rumors are circulating that Apple and Intel are working on a new smartwatch product that will debut in 2013. Sources in China claim that Apple is working on smartwatch. This particular rumor helps make sense of the redesign of the iPod nano away from its watch-friendly square face, despite the popularity of wristband accessories and various Kickstarted smartwatch projects out there.

According to Chinese sources, the smartwatch would be Bluetooth enabled and have a 1.5-inch touchscreen display. The watch would be designed to work directly with the iPhone allowing users to make phone calls and perform other functions from their wrist. Other smartphone integrating watches have been on the market before and have proven unsuccessful, which makes this fertile ground for Apple to sow.

It’s worth noting that Apple rumors never cease and some products, such as an actual Apple HDTV and touchscreen iMacs, and have never materialized despite ongoing rumors.

[via PCMag]

Even though iOS has gone through six major revisions, multitasking remains one of the weakest facets of Apple’s mobile devices. A clever designer has set out to change all that and designed an app switcher that is still simple and easy to use but is far more useful than Apple’s approach. Now his design has been realized as a jailbreak app.

The Auxo app switcher was conceptualized by The Verge forum member Sentry. When the user summons the app switching interface, Auxo shows a preview window for each running app, along with their icons and names. You can then swipe down on an app to close it; you can even swipe on two apps at the same time to close both of them. As if that wasn’t enough, Auxo also improves on the playback interface and provides easy access to the most commonly toggled settings. Watch this video made by iDownload Blog for a demo:

Sentry originally designed Auxo to take advantage of the longer screen of the iPhone 5, which is a bit cruel because it’s a jailbreak app since up until now there hasn’t yet been a proper jailbreak for the iPhone 5. Those of you with other jailbroken devices running iOS 6 can get Auxo from the Big Boss repository on Cydia for just $1.99 (USD). The rest of us can only hope that Apple hires Sentry and his developer colleagues and make Auxo part of iOS.

[via The Verge via Redmond Pie via QuickJump]

I’ve rarely had to use a handset with my smartphone, maybe that’s because I don’t talk much on it, and most earphones tend to have built-in microphones, so they are perfectly capable of acting like handsets. However, if you talk a lot on your phone, and like the feeling of an old-school handset, check out this funny-looking one, shaped like a banana.

The Banana Radiation-Proof Handset does exactly what its name says, protect your brain from harmful cellphone radiations – all while looking like a monkey’s favorite fruit. It connects via a 3.5 mm audio jack to a bunch of different phones, including iPhones, Motorola and Blackberry phones. Yes, this banana goes well with Apples and Blackberries.

It’s available in 8 different colors over on Amazon and costs $21.99(USD). It’s definitely something fun to give in a gift exchange or as a prank – or to your pet monkey who knows how to use a phone.

[via Fancy Crave]