This week’s GeekWire radio show and podcast is a special New Year’s edition — looking back at the highs and lows of 2012 in the tech world, and ahead to some of the trends likely to have the biggest impact in the coming year.

Microsoft’s Steve Clayton recording the New Year’s show with us in the KIRO-FM studios. (Erynn Rose photo)

Our guest in the studio is Microsoft’s Steve Clayton, the editor of the “Next at Microsoft” blog, who joins us to talk about what he sees on the horizon in 2013 — including natural user interfaces, machine learning, big data, 3D printing, and the rise of the “Internet of Things,” blending the physical and digital worlds.

As a special supplement to the show, Steve put up a blog post with more background on the topics we discussed — check it out here.

That conversation starts at the 12:00 mark in the player above, after John and I talk about some of our most memorable moments of the past year, from the Mars Rover landing to the Angry Birds stunt at the Space Needle. For more check out our full list of Tech Triumphs, and our list of Tech Debacles.

John makes the point that the Seattle startup community was relatively quiet over the past year in terms of big milestones — IPOs, acquisitions, etc. — but says he expects 2013 to be more eventful along those lines. I also take us on a tangent about mobile phone service provider Solavei, which is one of the more unique startup launches we’ve documented over the past year.

Listen to the show above or access it directly via this MP3 file.

Happy New Year!  Thanks to everyone for listening to the show this year — we have fun putting it together every week, and it has been great to see the audience grow. We’ll be back next week with an all-new show, including our regular App of the Week and Tech Tune features.

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