"Fail fast." It's a mantra you hear in the tech-
startup world -- a reminder to chase your dreams
even if you need to pick up the pieces and start
from scratch every now and then.
Of course, some failures work out better than
others.
This year saw its share of technology-driven
missteps. Some were rare slip-ups by usually
reliable tech titans. Others were folks who crashed
the world stage via the Internet's powerful echo
chamber, got lambasted for their efforts, then
disappeared to presumably never be heard from
again.
Among them all, it wasn't hard to fill the top spot
on this year's list of "tech fails."
There are lots of arguments for and against the
Affordable Care Act, President Barack Obama's
signature health care law that has opened access to
insurance for millions of Americans. But there's
no debating that the rollout of its website, where
millions of people would presumably sign up for
care under the act, was a disaster.
Some painted it as a stark contrast between the
nimble, flexible world of Silicon Valley startups
and the unwieldy snarl of Washington
bureacracy. Regardless, the glitch-filled launch
gave critics of the plan plenty of ammunition at a
time when supporters would have preferred to be
extolling the virtues of the health care plan.
Of course, the full-time techies weren't perfect this
year, either.
After unveiling its successful video app, Vine,
Twitter launched an uncharacteristic clunker in
Twitter Music, a streaming tool that nobody
seemed to notice.
Once-mighty BlackBerry watched its dwindling
relevance erode to almost zero in 2013, while
Microsoft learned that taking on the iPad isn't easy
as its Surface tablet struggled to find an audience.
Yahoo's tinkering with its e-mail service frustrated
users -- although not as much as a handful of
major outages. And Facebook learned that being
the world's most popular social network doesn't
mean people want a smartphone that's been
reskinned with Facebook features.
Smartwatches were part of one of the year's top
tech stories, the emergence of wearable
technology. But by the end of 2013, none of the
devices had lived up to all the hype. Perhaps
spoiled by the capabilities of their smartphones
and tablets, many users felt the connected watches
just don't do very much ... yet.
And it wouldn't be a year in the digital age
without people using their Web access in
regrettable, embarrassing and sometimes just
plain stupid ways.
Be it overzealous crime-fighters on Reddit,
restaurant owners ranting on Facebook or the rest of us leaping at the chance to believe, and share, phony stories, there were plenty instances of people posting first and thinking later.
Take a look at our Top 10 Tech Fails of 2013 and let us know in the comments if there are any you think we missed.
startup world -- a reminder to chase your dreams
even if you need to pick up the pieces and start
from scratch every now and then.
Of course, some failures work out better than
others.
This year saw its share of technology-driven
missteps. Some were rare slip-ups by usually
reliable tech titans. Others were folks who crashed
the world stage via the Internet's powerful echo
chamber, got lambasted for their efforts, then
disappeared to presumably never be heard from
again.
Among them all, it wasn't hard to fill the top spot
on this year's list of "tech fails."
There are lots of arguments for and against the
Affordable Care Act, President Barack Obama's
signature health care law that has opened access to
insurance for millions of Americans. But there's
no debating that the rollout of its website, where
millions of people would presumably sign up for
care under the act, was a disaster.
Some painted it as a stark contrast between the
nimble, flexible world of Silicon Valley startups
and the unwieldy snarl of Washington
bureacracy. Regardless, the glitch-filled launch
gave critics of the plan plenty of ammunition at a
time when supporters would have preferred to be
extolling the virtues of the health care plan.
Of course, the full-time techies weren't perfect this
year, either.
After unveiling its successful video app, Vine,
Twitter launched an uncharacteristic clunker in
Twitter Music, a streaming tool that nobody
seemed to notice.
Once-mighty BlackBerry watched its dwindling
relevance erode to almost zero in 2013, while
Microsoft learned that taking on the iPad isn't easy
as its Surface tablet struggled to find an audience.
Yahoo's tinkering with its e-mail service frustrated
users -- although not as much as a handful of
major outages. And Facebook learned that being
the world's most popular social network doesn't
mean people want a smartphone that's been
reskinned with Facebook features.
Smartwatches were part of one of the year's top
tech stories, the emergence of wearable
technology. But by the end of 2013, none of the
devices had lived up to all the hype. Perhaps
spoiled by the capabilities of their smartphones
and tablets, many users felt the connected watches
just don't do very much ... yet.
And it wouldn't be a year in the digital age
without people using their Web access in
regrettable, embarrassing and sometimes just
plain stupid ways.
Be it overzealous crime-fighters on Reddit,
restaurant owners ranting on Facebook or the rest of us leaping at the chance to believe, and share, phony stories, there were plenty instances of people posting first and thinking later.
Take a look at our Top 10 Tech Fails of 2013 and let us know in the comments if there are any you think we missed.
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