While plenty of gadgets cross our desks, we at Engadget also end up buying a lot of things for ourselves throughout the year. In 2021, some of us invested in smart home devices and others (re)discovered passions for things like e-books and vinyl, but there are plenty of things we bought and loved that didn't make it onto the site. Here, our staffers look back on the year that was by gushing about their favorite items they bought this year. After a few years of waffling, I finally pulled the trigger in 2021 and bought a Dyson stick vacuum. You could say I fell for the hype, but honestly it's been one of my favorite purchases of the year and arguably the most useful. Until now, we had been relying on a few-years-old Roomba (lovingly named Dale) to clean our two-bedroom apartment -- Dale did a good job, but the Dyson is even better.

If you make a purchase by clicking one of our links, we may earn a small share of the revenue. Our picks and opinions are independent from any business incentives. It's tough to keep your yard and gardens looking their best year round, especially when you have limited time for yardwork. However, you don't have to tackle lawn care on your own. Your chores will be a whole lot easier when you have a team of smart devices to help with landscaping and gardening.

Today on In Case You Missed It: Kobi is a yard work robot that is purportedly able to clean leaves, mow the lawn and shovel snow, though the promo video shows it very briefly moving snow only, so stand by for reviews on that rush purchase. Meanwhile UCSF researchers found that infant brains actually move neurons around up to three months after birth, which is not something we'd known before. The self-driving car experiment out of the University of Oxford wrapped up with a sweet little send-off video. If you're interested in the LED suit from Red Bull, that video is here. As always, please share any interesting tech or science videos you find by using the #ICYMI hashtag on Twitter for @mskerryd.