The concluding year may be remembered in history as one in which new ways to play, talk and even network were discovered. The year will be remembered in music history as the year that old favourites retook the stage, and the year people swamped a social networking website to find friends lost to time. Here are a few of the trends that 2007 will be remembered for.

Facebook

The social networking site spawned what may be the largest online trend since YouTube - with more than 60 million people expected to be using the site by the end of 2007.  An average of 250,000 new people have joined every day since Jan. 2007, and it is the sixth most visited page in the U.S. The site is equal parts photo album, messaging centre and time waster. The rush of popularity came shortly after going public near the end of 2006. The site was previously open only to university students. It became a serious empire when it bought out a computer programming company, sold a small but expensive interest to Microsoft and introduced a controversial advertising system. Some observers say an obnoxious collection of publicly made add-ons at the end of the year threatens to send this trend downward.

The environment

Public opinion finally started to acknowledge environmental issues, although theories may vary widely on its overall effect on the planet. The term "carbon footprint" was coined and popularized as a way to express a person's negative impact on the planet. Canada's Wild West instituted eco-conscious legislation in the tar sands when Alberta Premier Ed Stelmach told oil companies they would have to pay royalties to the government. Meanwhile, everyone's favourite eco-avenger, Al Gore, won an Oscar, an honorary Emmy, and a Nobel Peace Prize for his public quest. The Nobel was also awarded to a panel of scientists who made the connection between human action and global warming unignorable.

Nintendo Wii

Unquestionably the most innovative gaming system to be released in years. Shedding the traditional thumb-tapping controllers, the Wii console actually responds to the user's motions -- like punching, swinging (of bats, swords, bare fists, etc.) and any number of movements. The Wii sold out hours after its release last Christmas. A year later, it remains a hard product to keep in stock. After changing the way people think about video games, it altered the market as well, issuing games that aren't strictly for the usual young male demographic. Such releases include brain teasers for children and exercise software for adults. The Wii has also been trumpeted as a great tool to keep the elderly active.

iPhone

Apple sent the cellphone world into hysteria when it announced the release of the much-anticipated iPhone in January. The gadget -- equal parts cell phone, iPod media player and wireless Internet device -- was the subject of a massive publicity campaign leading up to its U.S. release in June. Hackers spent 2007 dissecting the device and found a way to unleash the phone from its exclusive deal with AT&T. Canadians, meanwhile, are still waiting for the product to hit shelves north of the border.

Reunion tours

The biggest musical achievement in 2007 was the hatchet-burying of old musical feuds. Reunion tours took centre stage as top bands forgave and forgot. Sting rejoined the Police for an international tour, and Van Halen re-teamed with David Lee Roth. Robert Plant and Jimmy Page brought Led Zeppelin together for one show after only performing together a handful of times since the band split in the '80s. Recent defunct bands making comebacks included a Smashing Pumpkins tour and Rage Against the Machine playing the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival in April. The Spice Girls returned "Girl Power" to the lexicon as they kicked off their international reunion tour in Vancouver in early December.

Politicians release biographies and memoirs

It was a year of past leaders trying to set the record straight. Former prime ministers Jean Chretien and Brian Mulroney penned autobiographies, laying blame at the feet of others for once-buried affairs that turned sour. Chretien raked Paul Martin over the coals one last time and accused a "gang of self-serving goons" of pushing him out of office in his memoir, "Jean Chrétien: My Years as Prime Minister."  Mulroney, meanwhile, speared former rival Pierre Trudeau and said the Airbus scandal was a smear campaign by his Liberal opponents in "Brian Mulroney Memoirs." Little did he know that he'd be called to testify in front of an ethics committee by the year's end. Former U.S. president Ronald Reagan's inner thoughts were also exposed with the release of "The Regan Diaries." Nearing the end of his tenure as president, George Bush allowed a biographer unprecedented access to the White House to pen the book "Dead Certain: The Presidency of George W. Bush."

Celebrity wines

Celebrity wineries and brand lines have been a growing phenomenon for a few years, but 2007 brought a number of entertainment juggernauts to the field. A Madonna namesake was released by her father's Michigan estate, while fellow musical legends Barry Manilow and Carlos Santana put their names behind some Californian wines. The biggest buzz came when the Gallo Winery announced a line selected by talk show host and celebrity homemaker Martha Stewart would begin public release in January 2008.

Closer to home, actor Dan Aykroyd released a line of blends from Niagara Cellars and announced intentions to establish his own estate early next year. Wayne Gretzky earned the nickname "The Grape One" when he established his own estate in Ontario's Niagara country.