Null's Top Posts of 2007

It's hard to believe it, but this is my last post of 2007, as I'm headed on vacation before all of the Yahoo! Tech bloggers close up shop for the Christmas break. We'll be back on Jan. 2, and immediately gearing up for CES 2008, which begins that following weekend.

To tide you over until then, here's my annual roundup of the most popular posts and some personal favorites (out of the 655 of them I published in 2007). Have fun on your stroll down short-term memory lane.

Null's Greatest Hits of 2007

How They Steal Your ATM Card - My first post of '07, outlining how ATM card thieves work, was a big hit.

Macworld 2007: iPhone at Last! - You heard it here first! I was writing this post in my hotel room from CES 2007, where iPhone instantly upstaged thousands of exhibitors hundreds of miles away. 

Apple iPhone: Coolest Features, Biggest Obstacles - My first complaint about the iPhone not having a 3G radio. 

How to Pick a Genuinely Secure Password - Still great advice.

What's New in Windows Vista Anyway? - Pretty graphics! Annoying pop-ups! 

The More I Use Vista, the More I Dislike It - I still pretty much feel this way, and still use XP on a day-to-day basis on my primary PC.

Should I Shut Down My PC at Night? - (Answer: It won't kill the thing.)

Should You Ever Buy a Used Laptop? - (Answer: I wouldn't.) 

Five Ways to Watch TV on Your PC - Yes, I know there are more than five. 

Who Else Is on Your Wi-Fi Network? - Here's how to find out.

Why Aren't You Upgrading to Vista? - With 2,435 comments, this is one of the most popular posts in Yahoo! Tech history. Feel free to chime in, number 2,436!

Meetings Make You Stupid - No one argued with this finding.

Why Major Flight Delays Are Getting Worse - Many complained that I didn't have the solution to the air travel mess we're in (what with numerous reports this year of people stranded on runways for hours at a time). If I knew the solution, do you think I'd be writing this blog???

Best Buy's Shady Pricing Scam Unravels - Published in March, this one was still drawing comments in November.

An Open Letter to Microsoft: Re-Release Windows XP - 379 of you added a signature to my online petition. Maybe it had some good... XP did have its lifespan extended, at least.

Daylight Saving Time: The Unauthorized Manual - Guess what, it's coming again in just three months!

Copier + Hard Drive: A Dangerous Combination - Yes, some keep copies of things in their little brains.

Wii Conspiracy Roundup - Why you still can't get a Wii.

Beware the "Evil Twin" Wi-Fi Hotspot - How can you be sure that Starbucks access point is really from Starbucks?

Multitasking Will Make Your Brain Explode - Unless the meetings make you stupid first.

BlackBerry Goes Down, BlackBerry Goes Up - All about the great BB outage of 2007.

9 Ways to Save Money on Your Cell Phone Bill - No, you don't need that fishing game.

Shut Up Telemarketers for Good - The "I'll call a lawyer" trick works, I swear.

Prepare for Madness as Apple iPhone Arrives June 29 - Most of the madness was from the media, though.

Laptop vs. Desktop: Which Is Right for You? - Fun fact: 8 of 10 of people who email me for advice are looking for laptops.

Blockbuster Sides with Blu-ray - Maybe not the death knell for HD DVD it was earlier rumored to be, but still. Blockbuster stock is down another 27 percent since I wrote this.

FBI to Battle Zombie Horde - It's feds vs. spammers in this war.

First iPhone Reviews Arrive, and They're Aglow with Praise - Want good reviews? Send your product in advance to only four guys who you can rely on to gush over it!

Real Cost of iPhone: Service Plan Revealed - Expensive, but not as bad as it could have been.

Hands-on Review: Apple iPhone (2 parts) - My no-punches-pulled, hands-on coverage.

Why New Music Doesn't Sound as Good as It Did - It's got nothing to do with Abba.

Mobile Phones Are Making Us Stupid - Just like the meetings.

15 Ways to Increase Laptop Battery Life - This one's fun. The tips here are fine, but it's the comments that are a trip. After a few hundred legitimate comments, the remainder are all spam. I used to delete them, to the tune of several hundred a day, but I eventually gave up (as did Yahoo!, it seems). There are over 7,000 comments on this post now, and almost all of them are spam. I just like to see how high the number can go. Oddly, the rest of the blog seems virtually spam-free.

Find Out If Your Printer Is Spying on You - If it's a color printer, it probably is. 

The absurd cell phone bill trilogy: $3,000. $10,000. $85,000.

Your Printer May Be Hazardous to Your House - If it's not spying on you, it's killing you.

Automated Toll Roads Wrecking Bank Accounts, Marriages - As are printers and meetings.

Can You "Steal" Someone's Wi-Fi Signal? - As close as we get to philosophy here on Yahoo! Tech.

Apple's Fall Updates: New iPods and More - Shocker!

US Navy to Alter "Swastika" Building Due to Web Maps - One of the dumbest stories I have ever reported.

How to Delete Files for Good - No, the recycle bin doesn't do the trick!

Overwhelmed by Email? One Firm Goes Email-Free on Fridays - How is this even possible?

Best Halloween Gadgetry - 2007 - Talking Chucky FTW!

When Is It Time to Get a New PC? - (Answer: Always, yet never.)

Follow the Spam! What Happens if You Buy from a Spammer? - (Answer: You get nothing.)

Do Not Call List Inching Closer to Permanence - Serenity now!

File Sharing Opens Users to Identity Theft - Or, why you shouldn't share your taxes and resume with LimeWire.

Amazon's Kindle: The iPod of E-Books? - It came from nowhere and it's making major waves.

HDTVs Growing to Epic Size This Season - Out: Discounts. In: Bigness. 

Commenter of the Year: I don't know who he is, but with 249 comments (out of over 43,000 comments total, after taking out the spam), props to rogueist for keeping me honest and bringing some thoughtful discussion to hundreds of my posts. (With 105 comments, honorable mention goes to somebodys_here.) Thanks, guys! I mean, you are guys, right?

See ya in 2008!