The year has almost passed and that makes it a great time for reflection. Of course, I have thought most about my family -- what we did in 2012 and our plans for 2013. I have thought of household repairs and projects planned for the coming year, goals I would like to attain, but I also considered what technology I used the most and the changes I made.

My colleagues and I plan personal tech retrospectives. I'm first up.

Twenty-six days ago I asked "Will you buy Microsoft Surface Pro?" after pricing released and pundits gripe it is too high. They compared to iPad, which I argued then (and still maintain) isn't right: Microsoft smartly prices Surface Pro against MacBook Air and Ultrabooks. But do you agree? Based on responses to the poll, yes.

Quick recap: Microsoft plans to release the second Surface tablet, running Windows 8 Pro, next month. The model available since October 26 runs Windows RT and is priced against iPad. Surface RT starts at $499. Pro is either $899 or $999 for 64GB or 128GB storage, respectively. Users can't install legacy apps on RT but they can on Surface Pro, which Microsoft positions more for business users and anyone needing access to the more traditional Windows desktop. The company also expects Pro buyers to pay up for Office 2013; the Home version ships free on Surface RT.

If you’ve just spent an age downloading a huge MKV file, then eventually discovering that it won’t play properly is always going to be, well, a little frustrating. To put it politely.

It’s best to resist your immediate urge to shout a lot and break things, though, because there may still be hope. Grab a copy of the free Meteorite and it’s just possible that the program will be able to restore your movie to its full working order.

There is a lot of recent chatter about malware on Android devices, but much of it is overblown. Microsoft recently learned a lesson when its #DroidRage campaign when down in flames. Honestly, while there is malware out there, it is not as prevalent as you are being led to believe. Still, being careful is always the best advice.

To that end, there are a number of steps you can take to make sure that brand new tablet or phone is as safe as possible. The mobile operating system is not the minefield that was past versions of Internet Explorer and Windows, but does have its share of flaws that can lead to compromise.

In June, I boycotted Apple and completely declared independence in July. But my disdain is personal, I respect other people's fruity tastes. Thus, I found myself inside Apple Store on December 23 ready to buy my daughter her big surprise Christmas gift: white iPhone 5. But I ended up purchasing from AT&T, which experience taught valuable lessons about iPhone gifting and what the carrier can and will do that Apple Store won't or can't.

Simply stated: I wanted iPhone 5 to be a surprise. That meant purchasing the device without activating to her phone number beforehand, thus walking out of the store with an unopened box, which seal she could break on Christmas morning. At Apple Store, one of the red shirts said no way. The phone couldn't leave the premises without being activated. "You could buy an Apple gift card for the same amount", he suggested. What's the surprise in that? Would you rather get the phone or the promise of one? Geez Louise.

After almost three weeks since Samsung announced the Premium Suite upgrade for the Galaxy S III, the South Korean manufacturer officially revealed that the older Galaxy Note is set to receive the same software treatment alongside the coveted Android 4.1 Jelly Bean upgrade.

The previously available leaked ROMs gave away Samsung's plans to introduce Premium Suite functionality as well the first Jelly Bean iteration for the original Galaxy Note, however details were scarce at the time. Users can now expect to take advantage of a number of new features including Multi Window, which allows to view two apps concomitantly or Popup Browser, Note and Video to display a web page, create notes and watch a video while running other apps.

Amazon, the internet-based retailing monster, has posted its numbers for this recently passed holiday shopping season. While the company may have disrupted a few Christmas Eves by taking out Netflix when customers were ready to watch that special holiday movie, it still seems to have come out big on the retail side of things.

Of course, like any company, Amazon toots its own horn here, but still, the company must produce real numbers, even if it portrays them in advantageous ways.

Almost two months ago Verizon Wireless announced the HTC Windows Phone 8X, in Blue, Black and Red, for $199.99. The US carrier slashed the price of the smartphone down to a more competitive $99.99 on new two-year contracts, bringing the handset more in line with the other Windows Phone 8 device available right now at the big red, the Lumia 822.

However, the move to halve the price may add even more confusion for prospective customers looking to purchase a new Windows Phone 8 handset. At the $99.99 price point Verizon now offers two similar handsets, the Lumia 822 and the Windows Phone 8x, neither of which sets itself clearly apart from the other in the software or the hardware department.

Security vendor Anvisoft has released Anvi Rescue Disk 1.0, a free bootable Linux-based environment with tools to help detect and remove ransomware from an infected PC.

And while this isn’t exactly a new idea, the system does have a few welcome touches which make it little more appealing than some of the competition.

If you received an iPad or an iPad mini for Christmas, the chances are you’ve already downloaded a fair few apps and are enjoying playing around with your new tablet. To help get you started, Apple’s created a "New to the App Store?" section which offers a curated selection of the best apps. There’s an "Essentials App Collections" area too, and you can also explore the "App Store Best of 2012".

Even with all this help from Apple you’ll still be faced with a somewhat bewildering array of choices, so to simplify things further, here’s a list of ten apps (paid and free) that I think are essential.

There has been a great deal of enthusiasm about making indie movies on Digital SLRs (and even some television -- Joe Wilcox of this parish reminds me that an episode of “House” was filmed on a Canon 5D, as was one of the BBC’s “Wallander” episodes). There are two main reasons for this enthusiastic adoption -- firstly, both camera body and lenses are incredibly low-cost compared to a conventional digital TV or movie camcorder, and secondly, they have full-frame (35mm size) sensors to give that shallow depth of field “film-look”.

While I’ve followed all this with interest, I’ve never personally been fully convinced.

Google released its Voice feature back in 2010 and made the service free for the first year, but has continued to extend that offer each year since then. Google Voice allows Gmail customers to make phone calls from within their account. Not only does this provide free long-distance, but it also provides some added convenience.

Now the search giant has announced that, once again, it will extend the free service for yet another year. In a very brief post from product manager Mayur Kamat, the company states that: "Many of you call phones from Gmail to easily connect with friends and family. If you're in the US and Canada, you'll continue to be able to make free domestic calls through 2013. Plus, in most countries, you can still call the rest of the world from Gmail at insanely low rates".

Buying a monitor online has plenty of obvious plus points, with the wide choice and low prices coming very high on the list. But if you’re making a purchase in person -- maybe you’re buying a second-hand system, say – then you can at least check the display for stuck pixels or similar defects, which could save you considerable time and hassle.

And that’s where the very useful and entirely free InjuredPixels comes in.

The year was a big one for Microsoft with updates to almost every website and software program, as well as the release of Surface RT. But now it is time to look ahead to 2013 and the company has not only announced the expansion of retail sales for its tablet but the next six company store locations.

Jonathan Adashek, GM of Microsoft's Communications and Strategy, Sales & Marketing Services Group, revealed today: San Antonio, Texas; Miami, Florida;  Beachwood, Ohio; San Francisco, Calif.; Salt Lake City, Utah; and  St. Louis, Missouri will join the current locations around the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico.

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Psy's Gangnam Style may be the most popular YouTube video of all time, with 1.05 billion views, but there are other measures of popularity that say much about other things. In the old days of comedy, being mocked by talk show hosts like Conan O`Brien is one example. But in the social era, where anyone can be a comedian and the hive mind collectively produces one, memes rule. One clearly stands above all others, at least during second half of 2012: Grumpy Cat.