Greatest. Gadgets. Ever.

What makes a gadget a gadget? Not an existential question, to be sure, but certainly one that had the gizmo gang at MobilePC magazine pondering the meaning of Fuzzbusters before compiling their just-released tally of "Top 100 Gadgets of All Time."

In the weeks spent debating the entries, according to the final list, "tempers were flared, fingers were pointed, chairs were smashed over heads, and feelings were hurt. But we emerged, like Moses from the mountain, with the world's most authoritative ranking of the best gadgets of all time."

The gadget gurus decided that nominated gizmos needed moving parts and/or electronics to warrant a spot in the roundup of "Greatest. Gadgets. Ever." Each gadget had to be a self-contained apparatus that can be used on its own rather than a subset of another device (the flashlight counts; the light bulb does not). Finally, gadgets had to be smaller than the proverbial bread box.

The results span history--from the ancient abacus, 1891 Swiss Army Knife and 1857 Hohner Harmonica (which has, according to Mobile PC, "been keeping hobos entertained for nearly 150 years") all the way up to the digicams and handhelds lining the aisles of today's Best Buy.

Among the more familiar gadgets on the list are the 1974 Rubik's Cube, Sony's 1983's water-resistant Sports Walkman, Texas Instruments' 1978 Speak & Spell, the RIM Interactive Pager, an early VCR, a 1972 Pulsar digital watch and the Handspring Visor.

As the countdown winnows down to the top 10, expect to see some all-stars--the 1977 Atari 2600, the 1956 Zenith Space Command TV Remote, Motorola's 1996 Startac cell phone and (drumroll), in the No. 1 spot, the Apple PowerBook 100. Mobile PC crowned the 5.1-pound Apple machine as top dog for being an early lightweight portable computer that helped define the layout of future notebook PCs.

So what tops your list? Talk back below. And don't be shy. Remember, one man's stapler is another man's iPod.