14 failures of 2014: from Google barges to Gurbaksha Chahal

It is December - the time to sum up the year. Following the Cnet portal (the article is based on the material The biggest tech turkeys of 2014 ), we will start with ... failures, failures, files, defeats and other falls below the technological baseboard. In general, 2014 was not an exception - even companies that were wise by experience sometimes did not quite clever things ...

14. Google: hey there on the barge!


Remember Google barges - mysterious boats with a bunch of sea containers on board? The first of them found at the shores of the island of treasure in the Gulf of San Francisco. The second identified itself in the port of Portland, Maine. Technomir plunged into the depths of conspiracy theories, discussing the purpose of these barges. What is it? Futuristic data centers? Floating shops?
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Google did reveal the secret, saying that they were going to demonstrate new technologies on the barges. But at the end of February, without any fanfare, the floating platform was driven off to Stockton, 80 miles east of San Francisco. Portland construction was dismantled, and the containers went to the scrap. The official reason: the coast guard saw in barges a potential source of fire and other dangerous threats.

Complete disappointment: the inglorious end of the mystery, which attracted a lot of attention, and tens of millions thrown to the wind (according to some sources, the project flew Google a lot of money).

13. The smart watch is here! (Hear them ticking?)


Let's be honest with each other: which of the smart watches deserve at least some of the hype that they have raised around them this year? After several intriguing attempts in the 2013th, they just had to shoot. What can I say, if the same Google seriously reacted to the new trend and prepared Android Wear.

Samsung, Motorola, LG and Sony - if you don’t list a dozen more small companies and startups - it seemed they were doing just that they represented more and more new watches stuffed with electronics.

But old-fashioned problems have not gone away: immodest dimensions, weak batteries and buggy software. By and large, the updates were too little that would justify their purchase.

We hope that in the 2015th one of the tech giants will draw the right conclusions. Well, wait for Apple Watch.

12. How do you call a mobile payment system, so it ...


In fairness, the Isis Mobile Wallet mobile payment system was launched in November 2013. But its weak market position is only underscored by the fact that now there is another ISIS in the English-language headlines - Islamic State of Iraq and Syria. To avoid confusion, we will clarify that several abbreviations ISIL, ISIS and IS are used to refer to the Islamic terrorist organization abroad (ISIL is the Islamic state of Iraq and the Levant used in Russian).

In order not to cause unnecessary associations, the creators of Isis announced rebranding in July, and starting in September mobile payments were called Softcard.

In addition to branding, Isis / Softcard has another problem - the October launch of Apple Pay. This, by the way, may be even more of a threat to business than terrorists.

11. Microsoft Kinect: shot in the back?


Microsoft launched another Xbox One sales campaign this year. One of the key console chips, the Kinect game controller, was dropped overboard to reduce the price to $ 400 (naturally, this is about “there” prices). Today, the price tags in the largest US retailers can be seen even more pleasant numbers, for example, "$ 350" - and this in view of the fact that many sellers offer free games bundled with the console.

It turned out that what was previously supposed as an “exceptional feature” can be completely discarded. Now it is clear why the demand for the new Kinect, offered as an option, turned out to be, to put it mildly, weak.

There is a suspicion that Microsoft's investment in the further development of the controller will be greatly reduced (or discontinued?) - because the buyer, who is always right, has already made his choice by voting in dollars.

10. Aereo leaves us


The company used a network of mini-antennas to intercept television signals broadcast over the air (without paying television companies the corresponding fees), and for a small fee offered to everyone who wanted to stream the content to Internet devices. Alas, but soon she had to face an insurmountable obstacle in the form of the Supreme Court, which assessed the company's activities as illegal. The broadcasters won, the court order was the first bell ...

Another blow Aereo received in October, when the US District Court met the demand of television companies and implemented a preliminary judicial ban on the activities of the service. Well, in mid-November, after numerous statements by the company in the spirit of “we are still alive”, Aereo still had to file for bankruptcy. Rip. What is translated from Latin - "May God rest in peace."

9. Unfair play of high-tech taxi drivers


There is competition, and there are dirty tricks. Lyft claimed in August that employees of a competing service Uber had ordered and then canceled more than 1,000 trips in the previous 9 months - Lyft regarded this behavior as part of a conspiracy to dismiss drivers. Uber responded to the accusation, calling it an "obvious lie."

But there was one more problem: practically the same Uber was accused by the creators of the mobile application for calling Gett, who said that Uber had used techniques similar to DoS attacks to entice drivers. This time, Uber agreed that their tactics "may seem to someone too aggressive."

Uber has not added points, and the statement of one of its top managers, which stated that the company may spend about $ 1 million to discredit journalists who concoct articles denigrating Uber. The company's CEO Travis Kalanik, however, soon noticed that the statement of the Executive Vice President Emil Michael "demonstrated a lack of leadership and humanity, as well as a departure from the value and ideals of the company." Nevertheless, Michael continues to work for Uber, as Kalanik believes that "people who make mistakes can learn from them."

Important! Do not talk about plans to discredit journalists for breakfast, where journalists are invited.

8. Tizen: where are you, where?


As stated, as a result of the release of the Tizen operating system developed by Samsung and Intel, operators will receive smartphones that they will be able to independently customize and even name as they please. It was assumed that this would be a kind of "high-end" OS. And it was also said that the debut of the new mobile OSes will take place at the beginning of this year.

None of this happened.

The only devices where the high-tech fragrance Tizen was felt were Samsung smart watches, which can hardly be called bestsellers. In March, the Tizen Association attempted to “change the paradigm,” stating at the Mobile World Congress that its software could also be used in smart TVs.

The long-awaited OS will still be able to surprise us in the coming weeks - this time, it is claimed, as a platform for low-end smartphones.

7. Facebook moves to the dark side of the Force.


Facebook found itself in an awkward situation, publishing the results of a study that dealt with manipulating the emotions of a certain group of social network users through making changes to their feeds. The study affected 689,003 users and about 3 million posts.

Statements added fire to the long-standing controversy over privacy and, in particular, how Facebook uses information about its users.

Everything ended (did it end?) With apologies from Facebook Chief Operating Officer Cheryl Sandberg (pictured above), in which, frankly, there was no particular apology either: “We obviously didn’t communicate well and regret it,” she said in aired on NDTV Indian TV during a business trip to New Delhi.

6. GamerGate? Fu Fu Fu!


The controversy that GamerGate is still a game does not abate until now. There are plenty of explanations for this phenomenon: from trying to expose bias among gamers to a way to respond to critics who disagree with the image of women in video games. What is not questioned is the sexual overtones that have become the hallmark of movement.

Feminist Frequency blog author Anita Sargsyan (pictured above) had to interrupt her speech at the University of Utah after she received an anonymous letter threatening to “arrange the biggest massacre in American history” if she does not stop her presentation. Independent video game developer Brianna Wu left her home after she started receiving threats and her home address was posted on the Web. Zoe Quinn, another GamerGate victim, also had to change his place of residence.

I turned my attention to what is happening and the game industry. Mark Morheim, head of Blizzard Entertainment's Activision company, admitted that "harassment has tarnished our gaming reputation." A bit later Adobe announced its position: “We do not support GamerGate”.

5. Where did my data go?


This year, we finally realized that we still need to worry about personal data. The amount of evidence is more than enough.

In October, representatives of JPMorgan Chase admitted that about 76 million households and 7 million small businesses suffered from data leakage - much more than the initial estimates.

US retailer Home Depot announced hackers have stolen 53 million email addresses. And this is in addition to 56 million bank card numbers.

Well, if you are lucky enough to use third-party services for storing photos and videos made with Snapchat, well, you have every chance to see your messages anywhere on the Web. For some reason, the representatives of Snapchat refused to express sympathy to the victims: they say, blame yourself, because you use dubious services.

4. Apple: a small crack in the perfect image


It was another record year for Apple, which continues to enjoy the dominance of the iPhone in the smartphone market. But even in the "apple kingdom" was not so perfect.

If we talk about security issues, then there is no need to remember anything: the hype raised around the stolen “star” photoguns - among others got actress Jennifer Lawrence and top model Kate Upton - still does not allow some people to fall asleep Apple After all, photos have flowed away from personal accounts in iCloud. However, the managers of the company "went to the unconscious," rejecting any doubts about the reliability of the security system architecture. Tim Cook closed the topic, saying that "measures taken."

And then there was an upgrade to iOS 8.0.1 for the iPhone and iPad. Originally intended to correct bugs in iOS 8, the update “pleased” users with unexpected surprises such as “No network” and disabling the TouchID fingerprint sensor. We must pay tribute to Apple - update update number 8.0.2 came out very quickly. And then iOS 8.1 appeared, which returned the Camera Roll folder.

Among other attempts to tarnish the bright image is the public quarrel between Apple and GT Advanced sapphires, which blamed bankruptcy on the Yablovo’s inhuman methods with suppliers, the negative reaction of users to the heightened promotion of the new U2 album and the bloated scandal with bending smartphones.

3. Satya Nadella learns not to say what not to say


The new CEO of Microsoft (in the photo above), in general, made a good start - the company is cheerfully moving in the direction of a new development strategy, and even with Surface tablets it would be wrong for the second wind to appear.

However, some of Nadella's steps can be regarded as rather dubious - this is a speech by Microsoft CEO, in which he advised women not to ask for a salary increase, but simply to believe that the system will take care of them: “The point is not in raising, but in knowing and the belief that the system itself will reward you for the efforts you have made, ”said Nadella.

However, the worst thing about this story was that the CEO stated this at the Grace Hopper Women's Technical Conference Women and IT.

Nadela, however, soon “changed course,” saying that he had vaguely formulated his comment. A day later, he admitted that he was wrong.

This did not stop the wave of criticism and he had to keep the defense almost all of October, defending his views on women and technology. Advice to women working at Microsoft: ask for a raise - the boss listens carefully.

2. Amazon’s first smartphone: was there a boy?


Remember the Fire Phone? Do not worry if not. You are not alone.

The first "Amazonian" smartphone was a highly anticipated device. The company was able to negotiate a partnership with AT & T, which promised a good start in the market. He had two unique pieces — four special front cameras that track movements and create a “dynamic perspective” and built-in scanning capabilities for bar codes and other data related to real objects, making it easy to search and purchase on Amazon.com.

But like Facebook at one time, Amazon did not take into account the fact that the sticker on the body of a smartphone with the name of a well-known brand does not guarantee success. The Fire Phone was preinstalled with a modified version of Android, which did not support key Google applications, such as Google Maps or Gmail. The effect of AT & T's marketing support quickly passed, and two months later, the cost of the phone dropped to 99 cents (including a binding contract).

Unique features? It seems the users did not notice them.

According to Amazon’s senior vice president, David Limp, the company was mistaken about pricing. If the Kindle Fire tablets easily competed in their segment, then the initial price tag on the Fire Phone was, to say the least, surprised ($ 200). Well, maybe Amazon will have more luck with the next version of the smartphone.

1. RadiumOne. That's how it is!


Meet Gurbaksh Chahal, General Director of RadiumOne, winner in the Epic Fail 2014 category!

A little-known startup got on the front pages of newspapers and magazines in the worst sense of this expression, when Chahal was arrested and charged with beatings and domestic violence after he had struck 117 girlfriends for half an hour. At first he wrote about his innocence in his tweet tape and accused the press of bias. The truth is then "innocent" deleted all his tweets.

Nobody had any doubts that Chahal should resign as CEO. However, there was a door without cotton. In his letter addressed to the board of directors, Chahal said that he was "deeply disappointed" by the decision of its members and the decision on his dismissal, Chahal, was a big mistake.

Do you think that RadiumOne's problems are over? As if not so: in May it turned out that one of the company's employees was looking for the US Secret Service for falsifying documents.

Bill Lonergan, the new CEO of RadiumOne, is full of optimism - according to him, the company managed to resolve all the problems by June. He also added that the company did not lose any of its main customers and the second quarter was the best period in the history of the company.

OK, all's well that ends well.

PS If this material has upset you, we hasten to remind you that the future is in our hands !
PPS If you agree with Clause 13 of this article, then try to win a brand new Xbox One (prerequisite: knowledge of the knowledge ). However, if you do not agree with Clause 13, then why not try it anyway?