The year in reviews: 2013's best and worst gadgets scored and scrutinized

Fun fact: Engadget reviewed 176 products in 2013, and that's not even counting the umpteen times we got hands-on with stuff at tradeshows and press events.

In general, we try to review just the top-tier gadgets, but even then, some of it ends up being forgettable. (Can you name-check everything we tested from memory? We can't.) So, as the year draws to a close, we're taking a look back at the last 12 months of reviews, and this time, we're including only the products you'd have no trouble remembering. Across every category, we've noted the flagships everyone coveted -- along with the duds that could've been so much better. Oh, and you might notice that we included some numbered scores throughout. That's right; Engadget is bringing back numerical ratings, and they'll follow the same format as the critic score gdgt has already been using for years. Which is to say, each rating takes into account various criteria for a given product category -- things like battery life and portability. Wanna see how your favorite gadgets did? Meet us after the break for a walk down memory lane.

E-ReadersAmazon Kindle Paperwhite (2013)

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Insert Coin: 2013's top 10 crowdfunding projects

An underwater drone that you can control with your tablet or smartphone from up to 300 feet away. Reckon that's worth a pledge of around $200? Plenty of you did, because Ziphius is now a very real thing, thanks to its passionate everyman backers. Galvanized by some very successful projects last year, 2013 saw plenty of crowdfunding projects angling for your dollar. We also crowned three Insert Coin: New Challengers winners at our Expand San Francisco and Expand New York events, hopefully doing our bit to cheer on the next Eric Migicovsky. Aside from said competitors, this year saw 29 Insert Coin subjects manage to hit their goals, with some utterly smashing them.

Indiegogo's CEO Slava Rubin tells us that compared to 2012, there was "more than a 1,000 percent increase in funds raised" in its technology category. "We've seen everyone from big brands to small startups embracing crowdfunding as an alternative to traditional finance. We can't wait to see what exciting new products 2014 will bring," he said. With the likes of Oculus Rift and the Pebble smartwatch still making news more than a year since their crowdfunding debuts, how will the class of 2013 fare? Here's a closer look of some of the projects that you just had to make a reality.

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Twitter lets you look back at 2013's land of tweets

The company has published a retrospective examining the big Twitter stories from each month, as well as hot topics in news, entertainment, and sports.

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