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.

Mac App a Day launched this morning with their first free giveaway for TuneX, a utility that allows iTunes access from any application. Very nice. The MAaD folks plan on giving away 5000 copies of fully licensed applications every day during the month of December.

Unfortunately, whoever designed the site kind of missed the point that visitors would simply like to find a "Download" button. Instead, I ended up searching the page source code to track down the download link. Way at the bottom of the page, looking like every other header you'll find "Download your copy now - while we've still got one to give you". Click this.