This Dragonfly toy, from the makers of Robosapien, looks freaking amazing. Hope it won’t cost as much as I imagine it might.

I especially like the bit near the end where it falls to the ground and flops around as if it had just been sprayed with insecticide. I need to get my dragonfly-loving girlfriend one of these. And then steal it.

The end of the year means a lot of things, and not least of all is the endless stream of “top picks” lists from every corner of the world dealing with everything from fashion, to movies, to music, to politics and much more. You name it, there’s a list out there for you.

Gadgets and gizmos are no exception. Here’s a few quirky batches of goodies to surf through (and maybe even buy) while you should be working.

Associated Content’s Top Ten Cool Gadgets of 2006

Tech Digest’s Top 10 Retro Gadgets of 2006

Reg Hardware’s Top 20 Weirdest Gadgets of 2006

PC World’s The 21 Biggest Technology Mistakes of 2006

Yes 2006 was a fine year for the technological obsessed. Here’s to 2007, and host more of useless things to fill those neglected USB ports!

Have you had one of your Wiimote straps break yet?

If not, great, but if you have, as have many other poor, unfortunate people out there, then fear not, you don’t have to go through some cumbersome replacement procedure.

In fact, all you have to do is fill out this simple Wii Remote Wrist Strap Replacement Request Form over at Nintendo’s support site. Make sure you have your Wii handy when doing so, as you will need to enter your system’s serial number. It’s on one of the stickers on the bottom of the unit. I already ordered 2 replacement straps since one of mine already snapped and the other I no longer trust.

As you can see, the newer strap is thicker and, hopefully, safer than the old one.

If you’re just not feeling the love for the pain white straps, though, you can always get yourself a “custom” strap.

Here is the first (leaked) image of the newest cellphone in the SE’s Walkman Series. You aren’t supposed to know this phone exists yet, but here it is in all it’s shiny metal glory. Obviously, no features have been announced yet, so for now you’ll just have enjoy the photo.

So your child has nothing else on their Christmas list besides an mp3 player. You know they want an iPod because, well, everyone else has an iPod. But you decide to get them something other than an iPod because you despise pseudo monopolies. You’ve heard lots about that new Microsoft digital media player.

So not only is your poor child getting a Zune, what has turned out to be a horribly crippled player, but they also have a chance of finding an ugly bright pink horribly crippled player under the Christmas tree.

Fine, some girls might actually prefer that monstrosity, but if your child is a male, you might do irreparable harm. If you want to get your child something other than an iPod this year, stay far away from the Zune.

By the way, if someone of you weirdos out there actually want to get your hands on a pink Zune, they’ve started showing up on eBay.

ArsTechnica reports on market research from iSuppli on the breakdown of how much a PlayStation 3 console really costs to make.  The results are quite astonishing!

“Describing the PS3 as an “engineering masterpiece,” iSuppli estimates that the more expensive $599 console costs $840.35 to build, leaving Sony with a $241.35 loss on each console. The picture is worse for the cheaper, $499 version. Sony takes a hit of $306.85 per $499 console sold, due primarily to the lack of any substantial savings from the hardware differences between the two versions of the PS3. For instance, the 40GB difference in hard drive space between the two versions of the PS3 only saves Sony $11 and omitting 802.11b/g on the cheaper console only saves Sony an additional $15.50.”

For those who love charts, here is the full breakdown from iSuppli:

Tired of rabid iPod fanatics who believe technology ends at Apple? Sick of people waving their little white boxes around as if anyone really gives a damn? Or maybe just have money to blow and want to try something different?

Well, in that case, the gadget freaks at Gizmodo have some extensive coverage of Microsoft’s recently released Zune.

First, you can read the full review of the player.

Still think that you need to have an iPod to be accepted by society as a whole? Then here’s a comparison of the two players.

A digital audio player is nothing without a good interface to your PC, so here is a comparison of iTunes and Zune Software (come on, that’s what they call it?). Here is a an image of the two interfaces side-by-side captured by someone at Gizmodo who likes The Killers just a wee bit too much.

Too lazy to read through all of that and just want some straightforward questions answered? This Zune Q&A might be just what you want.

And, finally, if you get off on unboxing porn, then this dirty Zune on Zune unboxing gallery is just for you. Eww, I bet they’re wirelessly sharing more than just files in this one.