We have about two months left of the year. Clearly it's too early to turn out the lights on 2007, but late enough to start getting reflective. What better occasion than Halloween to start teasing out which tech moments were tricks or treats.

Tricks:

- The starting price of the iPhone back at its June launch ($600), now dropped to $399.
- Microsoft Vista launched back in January. We waited five years for this? My XP is doing just fine.
- AT&T threatens to cancel any subscriber that disses them. (a little thin skinned perhaps?)
- Spam increases by 37% in 2007 according to Pew/Internet Research. Reports of the death of email premature.
- The new all-in-one Mac. It's sleek, it's light, it's too cool for school. Why not just get a laptop and then have the ability to fold up and go, too?
- Dell starts selling PCs off the shelf at Wal-Mart. This from the people who invented buying direct? I refuse to buy a computer from a guy in a blue vest with a happy face on the back.

Treats

- Microsoft Office 2007, also launched in January.
- Google's free web-based Office knockoffs: Docs, Spreadsheets & Slideshows.
- The Web takes it to the next level with Web 2.0. Very few people understand what Web 2.0 means, but most are enjoying it regardless. Blogs, social networking, endless youtube videos, RSS feeds and wikis. Woo Hoo!
- Mashups and open source. The natives are running the asylum leaving a trail of fun little aps for tools and play time.
- Fun rumors to distract me from getting anything done otherwise. My faves: Microsoft is buying Yahoo. Google will buy Facebook. Viacom will buy Facebook. Microsoft buys a little bitty piece of Facebook and finally shuts everyone up. Google is coming out with a google phone. The iPhone will flop. The iPhone will change life as we know it.
- The new Leopard upgrade to Mac OS X. Cool packaging, great new features for $129. Not bad. Mac-istas can afford it and Steve Jobs still gets a few new black turtle necks. Everyone's happy.
- Dell's IdeaStorm. It sounds like shameless, dopey PR window dressing. But, it's actually pushed Dell into doing some smart things this year. Namely, giving Dell customers the option to choose Linux, instead of Windows. Second, giving customers a choice to stick with XP and take a pass on Vista. Third, laying off the bloatware.
- One Laptop Per Child gains momentum and more importantly, goes into final beta.