After nearly two years of blogging (see my first post), tweeting and talkcasting for TUAW and Download Squad, I'm moving on to other things. Writing for TUAW has been a true privilege and I will be forever grateful for the experience, the opportunities, and most importantly the people that have come my way as a result of this job.

I was going to try to be funny with this post, drawing allusions to Brenda leaving Beverly Hills or Catherine leaving WNYX, but in the end, schmaltz and sappiness won out.

I want to thank every member of the TUAW team (past and present) for being such awesome colleagues and always offering up fantastic insights, suggestions, humor and love. Your commitment and dedication is what makes TUAW TUAW. Thank you for letting me join your world. To Michael Rose and Dave Caolo -- thank you for being such awesome lead bloggers for being so supportive. Victor Agreda -- thank you for being such a fantastic producer and for fighting to hire me in the first place.

To the TUAW readers (and Talkcast listeners), thank you for reading and chatting with me over the years. As Steve Sande has often commented, the TUAW readers and commenters are some of the best around. You guys are sharp, witty and knowledgeable about so much more than just the Apple-sphere. When we get something wrong or miss something cool, you let us know and I sincerely thank you for that.

Two years ago (today -- freaky), Scott Mcnulty posted a "we're hiring" notice for TUAW. As a longtime reader (even before I went Mac full-time), I applied, thinking that it might be something cool I could do while finishing school. This opportunity has been so much more than that.

If you want to keep up with what I'm doing, you can check out my personal site, follow me on Twitter or listen to me talk movies. I might be leaving TUAW, but the rest of the Internet won't get off that easily!

Thank you.

Soon 2006 will be but a memory in our collective. There were many highlights, and we'll be focusing on them soon enough, however I would like to take some time to point out a few stories that I hope I will no longer have to read about in 2007:

1. The iPod phone, nee iPhone: This product hasn't been released, and there is a chance it will never be released, and I'm already sick of it. Will it have buttons, will it just be an iPod with wireless, will it run a light version of OS X? I'm sick of the speculation, and this will be the last I have to say about it until Apple announces it (or Macworld 2007 comes to a close, whichever happens first).
2. Gimmicky Marketing: My Dream App, Mac App A Day, MacZot, and MacHeist all captured plenty of headlines this year. Some developers loved them, some developers hated them, and most Mac users were just happy to get cheap (or free) software. Let's just move on people, these sites are simple marketing tactics. There is nothing nefarious about them, nor is there anything particularly inventive about them. If you enjoy participating in them, continue to do them. If you dislike them with the red hot passion of a thousand suns, that's cool. Can everyone just please agree to stop chattering about them?
3. Zune/Vista bashing: Microsoft bashing is something of a staple on the Mac web, but I tire of it. I have been using Vista as one of my primary OSes since Vista Enterprise became available, and you know what? I like it. Do I like it as much as OS X? No, but it is the best version of Windows I have ever used (a title previously held by Windows 2003). As for the Zune, I have yet to see one in person but I hope that it succeeds. Apple could use a strong rival in the MP3 player space, because competition fosters innovation. Let's face it, the iPod of today is pretty much the iPod of 2 years ago with a color screen and more storage. Let's see how Apple can crush the Zune with innovation.

It's official, there are no more 17 inch iMacs in the Apple Store as of today. After the price reduction on the 20 inch models a few days ago, Apple has removed the 17 inch model completely.

This means, however, that you can still purchase refurbished 17 inch iMac G5's if they come up in Apple's discount section. Other retailers have cut prices on the iMac G5 17 inch as well in a last ditch attempt to clear out stock.

[via Engadget]