Every year Future Publishing asks readers to vote on the best gadgets of the year in various categories, and the winners have just been announced.

"Gadget of the Year" goes to the 32GB Apple iPod Touch. The judges write: "Fresh from a number one showing in our Hot 100, the Touch beats off all comers to be crowned 2008's Gadget of the Year, thanks to sterling music features, plus web and email gubbins." "Why, with much finer audio quality and twice the storage, not to mention no camera of dubious merit or inflated monthly fee, you could even say it’s better than the iPhone. In fact…you have" it continues.

The Apple iPod touch also won for "Best Music Gadget," while the Apple iPhone won "Commuter Gadget of the Year."

Here are the other winners:

Best Imaging Gadget: Nikon D60

Drop Dead Gorgeous Award: Audi R8

Best New Media Innovation: BBC iPlayer

Best Gaming Gadget: Wii Fit

Toy of the Year: Guitar Hero 3

The Gadget Candy Award: MacBook Air

Retailer of the Year: Dixons.co.uk

Gadget You Can't Live Without: TomTom Go 930 GPS

Innovation of the Year: Sony XEL-1 OLED TV

Green Gadget of the Year: Honda Civic Hybrid

Home Gadget of the Year: Sky HD

The Hi-Def Award: Sony PlayStation 3

VoIP can turn a standard Internet connection into a way to place free phone calls. The practical upshot of this is that by using some of the free VoIP software that is available to make Internet phone calls, you are bypassing the phone company (and its charges) entirely.

VoIP is a revolutionary technology that has the potential to completely rework the world's phone systems. VoIP providers like Vonage have already been around for a little while and are growing steadily. Major carriers like AT&T are already setting up VoIP calling plans in several markets around the United States, and the FCC is looking seriously at the potential ramifications of VoIP service.

Banking on the popularity of online video-sharing services such as YouTube and Google Video, Microsoft's own competitive service goes into beta today.
Soapbox on MSN Video, which will allow users to upload and share personal videos with others who use the service, is now available as a beta release in the U.S. for the Internet Explorer (IE) and Firefox browsers. The service initially is available by invitation-only, though users who want to take part in the beta can sign up on a waiting list.