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Welcome to the 2012 Engadget Awards! This year we've got 15 categories up for grabs, with 30 total awards to be decided. All finalists for Engadget Awards are reader-nominated, and the editors of Engadget will then select the best of those nominations (usually somewhere between four and six devices) as finalists. There are two awards per category: Readers' Choice (voted on by you!), and Editors' Choice (selected by us). The vote will take place in a few weeks once the nominees are picked, and winners will be announced shortly thereafter.

Submit your favorite devices for consideration using the form just past the break, and feel free to elaborate in the comments. You don't need to fill in every field, but you are required to answer at least one question in order for your form to be processed. You've got until 11:59PM ET on Friday, February 1st, 2013 to get your entries in. Now, go nominate!

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It's cold outside, but the cars at this week's North American International Auto Show were positively sizzling -- and Inhabitat sent several writers to report on the latest green cars to be unveiled at the show. Among the standouts at this year's auto show were Acura, which unveiled its sleek new NSX hybrid sports car, and Tesla, which showcased its all-electric Model X. Also on display in Detroit was Cadillac's 2014 ELR extended range EV with its gorgeous new interior. Want to see all the hottest rides from NAIAS 2013? Check out our roundup of the top seven hybrids and EVs from this year's show.

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Microsoft's decision to drop out of CES prompted a lot of questions with regards to the future relevance of CES, not the least of which was how much the industry really needed an in-person tech trade show in an age where business is primarily done online. Of course, there's still a fair amount of value in offering members of the media and buyers the opportunity to actually interact with the technology in person. And while software companies have long been a staple of the show, their presence is most often an acknowledgement of hardware partners.

It's fitting, then, that many of the show's offbeat highlights came in the form of companies looking to offer hardware solutions to our increasingly virtual world. Parrot's always-amusing CEO, Henri Seydoux said it best while showing off the latest additions to the company's AR.Drone on our stage. "Today, the kids have video games," he told us. "They've replaced toys, because it's a much more interesting experience. With the drone, we've tried to make toys as fun as video games." And it's easy to see how such a product can be taken as a real-world answer to smartphone gaming, with video from the built-in camera being overlaid with AR content.

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It was all bad timing, really. Just ahead of CES 2012, Microsoft announced that year's event would be its last, blaming product schedules that just didn't match up with the annual show. There was no question that the tech giant's absence would be felt the following year, the first time in recent memory the Consumer Electronics Show wasn't kicked off by a Microsoft keynote. It signaled, perhaps, a slight shift away from the days of huge companies dominating the event's headlines -- a phenomenon helped along by the recent attention-grabbing successes of a number of crowdfunded projects, many of which were present at the show.

The move from Bill Gates to Steve Ballmer was one thing, but a CES without Redmond? That was just unheard of, a specter that loomed over the show, even as the CEA happily announced it had sold out the company's floor space in "record time." In the end, of course, Microsoft was still at the show, albeit in a less overt form, by way of third-party machines from Sony, Samsung and the like, and in the form of a cameo by none other than Ballmer himself -- a sort of spiritual baton-passing to the company's keynote successor, Qualcomm. Heck, even the Surface Pro reared its head backstage at the show.

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Acura chose last year's NAIAS to unveil the reborn NSX, heir to an epic throne of motorsports lineage. But, it was lacking a few things -- most notably an interior. This year, Honda's superlative brand is showing off a new generation of concept for the car that is still, sadly, at least two years away from production. As before it's powered by the company's Sport Hybrid SH-AWD, a system that's spun most forcefully by a mid-mounted V6, helped by three electric motors. One is mounted to the V6 to provide a hybrid setup, the other two slung between the front wheels to give those tires up front little spin when needed. The new interior is a typically focused experience, full of leather and carbon fiber. It looks perfectly ready for production, but we're told it's just one potential design from a few they're toying with. No word on how much Acura's return to the supercar world might cost when it goes into production, but we're just glad to see this on a definite path to availability.

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With CES 2013 wrapped up, it's safe to say that audio wasn't exactly a hallmark of the show in the gadgety sense. As a whole, manufacturers brought their latest creations, but even calling most of them evolutionary would be a stretch. That point was confirmed when Sennheiser, an audio maven, focused its attention on its rare Orpheus headphone system -- something manufactured decades ago. This year, the show felt like a minefield of updates and lineup extensions, with companies -- and Carly Rae Jepsen -- exclaiming, "me too!" When Parrot unveiled Zik last year it was crazy to see all that tech jammed into a pair of headphones, but that quickly became the norm. Now, it's totally common to see the likes of NFC, inductive charging and wireless connectivity in audio gear.

It wasn't a total snooze fest, though. Sure, nothing really stood out the way an 8K UHD TV could, but that doesn't mean it won't be a solid year for audio. However, it may just be a bit boring now that good sound and the latest tech are being brought together at every corner. Join us after the break for this year's sonic standouts.

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January is an exciting time for both green technology and eco-friendly cars, as the Consumer Electronics Show segues into the Detroit Auto Show -- which just kicked off today! Inhabitat is on the scene at NAIAS 2013 to bring you the latest green car unveilings. So far, Mercedes-Benz launched its 2014 E Class Hybrid and Volkswagen showcased the Crossblue plug-in hybrid SUV. We also saw several breakthrough automotive technologies at CES 2013. Audi unveiled its new futuristic LED headlights, which the company claims will increase visibility and reduce the chances of a collision and Lexus unveiled a new high-tech autonomous vehicle that could pave the way towards self-driving cars. Also at CES, New York-based company CTA Digital unveiled the iPotty, a toddler potty that comes with a built-in iPad stand. Earlier last week, the state of Nevada followed California's lead and granted automakers permission to operate self-driving cars on public roads. In other green car news, Nissan announced that the 2013 Nissan Leaf will be more efficient, come with more features and charge in half the time as earlier models.

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