Yesterday I posted about CNN’s list of the top ten technology failures for 2010 — in the linked list I wrote that I no longer trusted CNN and would not be reading them. Upon thinking about it more I find their entire list to be pretty silly. Here are CNN’s top ten failures in tech for 2010:
- iPhone 4 Antenna
- 3-D TV
- Microsoft Kin
- Nexus One
- Facebook Privacy
- Google Buzz
- Gawker Media Site Hack
- Content Farms
- Digg Relaunch
- iTunes Ping
Apple deservedly makes the list twice — but this is hardly a list of the biggest tech failures and the iPhone 4 antenna issue is hardly at the top. Compare CNN’s list to LAPTOP Magazine’s list:
- Microsoft Kin
- Augen GenTouch78 Android Tablet
- AT&T 3G MicroCell
- Literati E-Book Reader
- Qik Video Chat
- Cisco Flip Side HD
- Google TV
This list makes even less sense. Let’s look at PC Worlds ginormous list of failures, which were annoyingly put in a slideshow format:
1.Google Buzz
2. iTunes Ping
3. Google Wave
4. Net Neutrality
5. Facebook Privacy
6. McAfee’s False Positive
7. Palm Pre / WebOS
8. HP Slate
9. Android Tablets
10. Nexus One
11. JooJoo
12. Plastic Logic Que
13. Lost iPhone
14. iPhone 4 Antenna
15. White iPhone 4
16. Blackberry Torch
17. Ask.com
18. Blockbuster
19. MySpace
20. Microsoft Kin
This is probably the best list I have seen, but it is hardly definitive.
With that in mind let me now rank how I see 2010’s biggest technology failures:
- BP Oil Spill in the Gulf of Mexico
- White iPhone 4
- Microsoft Kin
- Slate Tablets announced at CES
- Google Buzz
- Google Wave
- Gawker Media Hack
- RIM
- Tumblr
That is it, only nine things. So let’s talk about a few that made the list and why and then I will mention why I have omitted a couple of others.
BP
Many of you may be wondering why an Oil Spill constitutes a ‘technology failure’ — I would argue that BP and the U.S. failed to use all available technologies to resolve the situation. More so they failed to properly use technology to prevent the spill in the first place.
Ignore the poor management of the clean up — a lot of technology failed to make the spill as bad as it was.
Slates
These were supposed to be huge, instead did one even ship with Windows on it? Ok — but they sure as hell didn’t live up to anyones standards. This was a massive technology and business failure.
RIM
Where the hell were they? Where is all the technology that they purported to be shipping? Ugh…
Ping
I left Ping off because if you re-read the definition above you will see that Ping did as advertised. Ping isn’t great and barely anyone uses it, but is that really worse than anything else on the list?
iPhone 4 Antenna
Did it stop users from buying it? If Kin makes the list for lack of sales than why would the iPhone 4 make the list…too many sales?
Facebook Privacy
I hate Facebook, but apparently I am in the minority. Yes, they are making things less and less private — but I don’t recall something worse than the other things on my list happening.
Lists
I didn’t really want to make a list, but I saw no way around it. So if Apple ships the White iPhone 4 before the 1st then you have me to thank. ((They read this blog…right?))