The Year's Dumbest Moments in Tech

harrymcc writes "Over at TIME.com, I rounded up the year's dumbest moments in technology. Yes, the launch of Healthcare.gov is included, as are Edward Snowden's revelations. But so are a bunch of people embarrassing themselves on Twitter, both BlackBerry and Lenovo hiring celebrities to (supposedly) design products, the release of glitchy products ranging from OS X 10.9 Mavericks to the new Yahoo Mail, and much more." I can't think of anything dumber than the NSA's claims that metadata isn't data.

Comments

Mavericks was glitchy?

[mveloso]

Seems fine to me. You must have mistaken it for iOS 7.

Re:Mavericks was glitchy?

[redmid17]

Came here to say this. Haven't had a peep of any issues, and it's made my laptops perform better (battery, wifi) in a few ways. Definitely nothing negative about it from my POV.

Re:Mavericks was glitchy?

[Anonymous Coward]

Mavericks is glitchy.

It broke a lot of things in the Adobe suites that still haven't been fixed (yeah, I know this is partly Adobe's fault- but the backwards compatibility with Mavericks kinda stinks, especially for a closed platform). It introduced a lot of bugs relating to App Nap and the new memory compression, both of which are unfortunately opt-out rather then opt-in (as they should have been). There's still issues with ColorSync (going back to 10.7), which they kinda improved but also messed up with the way ICNS (icon) files are rendered (which now appear over saturated and darker then they should). Likewise, file labelling was replaced with that abomination called "Tags", which is such a horrible hap-hazard hack on top of Spotlight and the Finder that I'm surprised they even released it.

I'm sure a lot of this stuff will be resolved in the next version or two, but the unfortunate issue with Apple these days is that their operating systems are in a perpetual state of "almost working" and "not quite there yet". By the time you get 10.x.4 or 10.x.5, they're already working on the next major version that comes with it's own useless features that nobody wants or needs, and the existing features are basically abandoned and left to stagnate.

IMHO; their yearly release cycle is the worst thing to happen to OS X in a long time, and the effects of that are starting to become apparent in operating systems like Mavericks. It will only get worse until they decide enough is enough, and the next version will come when it's done (remember the days of10.6? We got all the way up to 10.6.8, and it was a damned fine OS as a result).

Re:Mavericks was glitchy?

[beckett]

using it right now. works great. dual menu bars are useful. the screens operate independently, and have their own virtual spaces.

Re:Mavericks was glitchy?

[phantomfive]

I'm sure a lot of this stuff will be resolved in the next version or two

That's optimistic....as you mention, Apple has a habit of abandoning features that work perfectly well, leaving them to stagnate. They also seem actively hostile to backwards compatibility for some reason.

The hands down winner

[dugancent]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_Glass

Re:The hands down winner

[Taco Cowboy]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_Glass

Apparently your hands are not placed down enough.

The REAL hands down winner:

http://beta.slashdot.org/

Re:The hands down winner

[Anonymous Coward]

I genuinely fail

That's obvious.

Re:The hands down winner

[iggymanz]

I actually submitted a story about your "hands down winner" but strangely enough the editors did not pass it:

http://slashdot.org/submission/3217581/how-not-to-design-a-ui-slashdot-beta-site-is-a-train-wreck

Windows 8

[SpaceManFlip]

Surely the list must include the "Angry Fruit Salad" operating system that sucks worse than anything previously offered?

Yeah, I bought it cheap and I tried it. $40 and it sits unused currently because even after installing Classic Shell and doing a lot of unpaid work to fix what they broke, I still hate it.

Re:Windows 8

[fermion]

It seems to me that the list is really 'products I don't like'. Certainly the dumbest idea of the year was MS WIndows 8, and Surface, write down of nearly 1 billion.

As far as the lack of professionalism in the IT sector, I worked in various professional enterprises. Some allow men to do whatever they want. Others have higher standards and require men to think. Say that men cannot think is silly. Men can think before they say or do stupid things. The trick is to fire the incompetent men who refuse to do so.

XBox is not a loser like surface, and trying to monetize Xbox is not dumb. MS responded to the issue.

The internship was stupid, but so are half the movies that get made.

The new Apple mail does suck. Where have you been? Every release Apple screws up one or two of the applications. Who is using google mail anyway? Google is the one company with a direct high speed link to the NSA, if a not NSA mining servers directly in their facility. The must have done something to rate the cheap gas.

Re:Windows 8

[the_humeister]

I like Windows 8, and it's better with Classic Shell. But your issues with Windows 8 don't really belong here since Windows 8 came out in August, 2012. Of course back then I upgraded from Windows 7 Home premium to Windows 8 Professional for $15 for each of my two computers. I wouldn't have liked it as much if I had to pay more.

Re:Windows 8

[tlhIngan]

I'd put releasing the XBone with Kinect on a list. It'll be out of the box by April is my guess.

I don't think it's a bad plan at all - because developers know they can rely on the user to have a Kinect, even if it's unplugged. So they can assume stuff like voice recognition and even body motion because it's in the box.

If it's unplugged, well, the devs will simulate it some other way - even it requires going through a million menus to do what would've taken 2 seconds by voice.

Now, if Microsoft didn't put it in the box, you're looking at what's happening with Sony's Move - sure you save a tiny bit of money, but now you've just relegated it to niche status. Just a toy that some people may have, and this early in the game, pretty much just good for putting sex shows online on Twitch.

The end effect is "enhanced with Kinect" is probably standard with Xbone, while the PS4 gets some lame ass implementation of what Kinect does. After all, the PS4 camera lets you do face recognition login and a modicum of voice commands that were put in as an afterthought to compete.

Hell, Sony's wasted money on the PS4 controller by adding in the parts for the Move when most users won't have it - every controller has a (2D - only X-Y positioning) Move emitter, but not every PS4 has a camera. Sure RGB LEDs are cheap, but it's still an extra expense. Especially as it's 2D only - for 3D positioning you need a regular Move controller with the ball as the camera can't see depth with the controller's built-in Move. (And really, who puts in 720p cameras? Yes, the PS4 cameras are 720p stereo).

Sony probably removed the cameras at the last minute just to undercut Microsoft. Not necessarily a good or bad idea - the Xbox360 was around $400-500 at launch, the PS3 was way out there, and the Wii was $250. When the prices tightened down a couple of years alter, it was $200, $300 and $400 and the PS3 took off.

The price these days is not an issue - $200, $400, $500, it's not a huge range. Hell, a PS4 + Camera is only $40 cheaper.

No, Microsoft won't be taking it out of the box. Especially as the first round of new games since release would be out assuming Kinect.

Re:Snowden was a dumb moment in tech?

[SpaceManFlip]

Snowden is the man. He accomplished what many previous whistleblowers attempted who were told "you don't have any proof, shut up." The shills who froth and scream traitor are on the side of evil, or they simply don't see that others had tried and failed and he did what he had to to expose the truth that needed exposing.

Big nerd with big balls, Snowden.

hahahahahal0lz!!!!11!

[Anonymous Coward]

The NSA is spying on us all... and their powerpoint slides are ugly! HAHAAAHAAH!!!1!one!!11

Look - I'm not going to try and make the argument that we should all stop what we're doing and go on humor strikes until they shut down the NSA. But seriously, if you're so desperate for column inches that you feel the need to spin the Snowden affair as "dumb", then you really need to ask yourself whether you're Part of the Problem.

Tip for next time: be funnier.

Re:Snowden was a dumb moment in tech?

[drinkypoo]

If he had "big balls," he would have stayed here and faced the music

You fail to understand civil disobedience. It means breaking an unjust law and risking facing the consequences. It doesn't mean sitting around waiting to get thrown in PMITA prison or whisked off to gitmo.

Re:Snowden was a dumb moment in tech?

[amRadioHed]

Actually quite often sitting around waiting to be arrested is exactly the point of civil disobedience. You can't really show the injustice of a bad law without demonstrating the consequences of the law. However this doesn't apply to Snowden. He wasn't trying to demonstrate that the laws surrounding classified data are wrong, he was trying to show that the activities the data documented were wrong so really there would be no point in letting himself get arrested. It wouldn't have furthered his cause in any way.

Re:Snowden was a dumb moment in tech?

[__aaltlg1547]

It depends on how you can do the most good. I don't think running did his message any good. He would be in a better position to talk about how he loves his country and how this is for the good of it if he were in his country and not overseas where people have to wonder what/how much he gave to the Russians and the Chinese that may not have hit the presses.

Re:Snowden was a dumb moment in tech?

[YukariHirai]

Now, there's no telling what he gave up to some real enemies of freedom.

From my point of view (not living in any of the three countries), there's no meaningful difference between China, Russia and the USA in terms of how much of an enemy of freedom they are. Oh, the US says they're all about freedom, but in practice they're about as bad as the others.

Re:Snowden was a dumb moment in tech?

[hairyfeet]

Ask Assange, the answer is YES. If you truly believe that simply having a press that is owned by the government BTW, will save your ass? I have a bridge you might be interested in. Again look at Assange where the story was instantly changed to "He's a rapist! Terrorist!"instead of all the evidence that the government supported scum, even bailing out a PMC that sold children as fucktoys to seal arms deals.

If either Snowden or Assange EVAR lave their little protected spaces they wil be given rendition rides so fast it'll make your had swim, and the entire time our whored out pres will cheer and say how wonderful big mommy is for doing it.

No Slashdot Beta?

[Anonymous Coward]

I'm disappointed that /.'s beta didn't make the list.

Re:Snowden was a dumb moment in tech?

[TrollstonButterbeans]

"What he did was to intentionally NOT face the consequences."

The consequences decided by who? An out-of-control government where the court system has effectively ruled time-again that government has no limits?

Yes, he would be detained without trial and rights --- just like what Manning is enduring. Does Manning have any free speech rights? No.

Okay. Your argument just lost and lost hard.

Don't judge me, I'm just the messenger.

Re:Snowden was a dumb moment in tech?

[whoever57]

You really think they would have thrown him in Gitmo if he had released the docs and invited reporters to park outside his house and come in to hang out and play x-box or something?

Hell, Yes!

I think that you are naiive if you think that we would have seen all the revelations if the USA had been able to reach Snowdon?

Re:Snowden was a dumb moment in tech?

[drinkypoo]

Snowden has been careful to leak only what he thinks was unconstitutional. I disagree with some of this definitions of what's unconstitutional, but I respect that he's trying to leak only the materials which are leak-worthy.

Snowden has by his own words dumped the full load on the news media. Now he's simply helping to guide discussion, and less of that lately. In fact, he's done nothing to leak only the leak-only materials. That's all the media. He more carefully chose his media outlets than Manning, that is all. They both did the same thing, and you're lauding one and decrying the other. Our own government has said that Manning's releases have not cost lives. What the public has learned from Manning, our enemies already knew. Only we did not.