What was the hottest technology of 2007? Was it the Apple iPhone? Intel's 45nm Penryn processor? Or how about the BBC's iPlayer? The Tech.co.uk team pick the products (or technology) that had the biggest effect on them this year...
Dean Evans, Editor: It's been a strong year for technology... AMD and Intel jockeyed for attention in an 'our quad-core's better than yours' contest; Blu-ray and HD DVD continued to exchange tit-for-tat sales stats (while few people actually gave a stuff); and, thanks to the Xbox 360, Nintendo Wii and Sony PS3, it's arguably been the most exciting year for videogaming.
But our most popular story of the year is also the biggest story of the year - the Apple iPhone. Not because it's the best mobile phone ever produced. It's blatently not. But because Apple jumped ahead of Sony Ericsson, Nokia, Motorola (and Microsoft's Windows Mobile) with a superbly intuitive UI. I'm on record as saying that I'd never own an iPod. Ever. But the converged handiness of the iPhone simply won me over. That said, I'm looking forward to seeing what Google does with its Android platform.
I've also been impressed with HD DVD this year and I think it will be a travesty if the half-finished Blu-ray format (recently updated to Profile 1.1) wins out in the end. Ultimately, though, there's a good chance that both formats will be marginalised as broadband TV and movie services take off. Microsoft's Video Marketplace on Xbox Live might be full of old Warner Bros movies nobody wants to rent, but such HD digital downloads are a taste of things to come.
Nick Merritt, Editor-in-chief: This year's most exciting tech was the humble computer interface. Thanks to falls in the cost of processing, we're seeing proper multi touch interfaces. These put that power to proper use, rather than squandering it on UI eye candy (Vista, I mean you).
The whizziest tech? Microsoft Surface. Forget the coffee-table, this showed a host of excellent ideas: seamless linking of external devices, intuitive hands-on manipulation of objects, multi-touch, the life-likeness and speed of the response.
The coolest? Photosynth. Proper genius: this stitches together images from any source into a single coherent whole, viewable from any angle. Sound dull? Click the URL and be blown away. While it might seem more of a photo application rather than an interface, imagine every image on the Web being linked into this system. That's an interface.
The most effective? The iPhone. Forget the phone, it's the interface that matters. It's proof that Direct Manipulation works, simplifies the complex, is fun to use and makes money. Which means they'll be everywhere soon.
Rob Mead, Associate Editor: Without doubt, my first choice is the Apple iPhone. The hype and anticipation around it has dominated the year in tech. Even though it's not the best phone in world in terms of what it can do, it beats the competition hands-down when it comes to usability. No phone has ever been so easy to use.
It goes without saying then that the iPod touch takes second place. It may look like a watered down iPhone, but it's just as revolutionary in its way. Rival MP3 players - including regular iPods - just seem lame by comparison.
But the one piece of tech I couldn't have gone without this year is my 15-inch MacBook Pro - paid for with my own hard cash, it's proved to be reliable, fast, powerful and a delight to use. The only thing I haven't liked about it is that it runs very hot, so hot that the bottom case has started to warp. I couldn't have done half my work on Tech.co.uk without it.
Martin James, Reviews Editor: Pioneer's Kuro plasmas have had technology journalists reaching for their thesauruses with ever increasing desperation as they look for yet another new way of saying: 'look, it's a bloody brilliant telly'. If you haven't already, audition one. And if you have the money, buy one. It really is that simple.
