The Year's Top Tech Fails

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Wired has posted its list of Top Tech Fails of 2012 today. The list is decent but I definitely think a few of this year's biggest tech fails are missing.

2012 saw the launch of a hundred dazzling new products and services ... and more than a few stinky duds. Apple Maps sent us driving straight into the desert instead of our intended town. Security fail after security fail left us scrambling to change our passwords and keep our digital identities secure. And stunning, colorful industrial design couldn’t save Nokia from another dismal year of finances.
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The password thing doesn't belong. Passwords aren't a problem. Stupid people with terrible password choices are.
 
Shouldn't Windows 8 be in this list or will that fall under next years fails?
 
^ 100% agree. And it's not hard to educate people on how to choose a strong, but easy to remember pw.
 
The Lenovo Yoga sucked. It is expensive compared to others, lacking a lot of key features other convertibles had, and it was the heaviest. The Samsung Ativ smart pc pro (7 series slate), Vaio Duo, or Iconia W700 are all better priced, better hardware, and all of them lighter, also all of them have a digitizer which the Yoga lacks.
 
apple should hold spots 1-10 followed by the idiot that used the same password for every account.
 
DejaWiz said:
^ 100% agree. And it's not hard to educate people on how to choose a strong, but easy to remember pw.
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The problem isn't passwords. It is the reset mechanism. To quote the author from a talk he gave recently: "Any password reset system that is acceptable to a 65 year old will fail to a 14 year old hacker in seconds."
 
Windows 8 is not a great improvement from Windows 7 but it still not as bad as some peoples like to say.
For $15, I would say that Windows 8 is not a bad deal... ;)
 
Top Tech Fails:
1. Wired's "tech fails" article
2. Facebook IPO - we all knew this was doomed anyway
3. Blackberry - just because I can't stand them
4. Anyone who says Windows 8 sucks without having used it or only having used it for 20 minutes. I don't even know if this counts as a "tech failure" but what the hell... why not add it. I certainly know some folks who fit in here.
 
Tawnos said:
The problem isn't passwords. It is the reset mechanism. To quote the author from a talk he gave recently: "Any password reset system that is acceptable to a 65 year old will fail to a 14 year old hacker in seconds."
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Once again, user problem. The author is an idiot and used terrible examples. If your reset mechanism goes through the same security cautions it isn't a problem. The problem is we have taught people to try and create passwords that are impossible to remember, but easy to crack.


Wirth'sLaw said:
Top Tech Fails:
1. Wired's "tech fails" article
2. Facebook IPO - we all knew this was doomed anyway
3. Blackberry - just because I can't stand them
4. Anyone who says Windows 8 sucks without having used it or only having used it for 20 minutes. I don't even know if this counts as a "tech failure" but what the hell... why not add it. I certainly know some folks who fit in here.
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I used windows 8 for months and think it sucks on a non touch device. I formed that opinion in about the first 20 minutes and months of second chances didn't change it. Sorry to defy your well thought out logic there.
 
DejaWiz said:
^ 100% agree. And it's not hard to educate people on how to choose a strong, but easy to remember pw.
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When you have dozens of passwords, all with different criteria and some that reset every X days, the most cryptic password security system crumbles to the almighty Post-It note under the keyboard.

If sysadmins would stop driving me nuts with case-sensitive-special character-numeral required password and allow xkcd's simple password mnemonic, my life would be oh so much simpler...
 
Dekoth-E- said:
Once again, user problem. The author is an idiot and used terrible examples. If your reset mechanism goes through the same security cautions it isn't a problem. The problem is we have taught people to try and create passwords that are impossible to remember, but easy to crack.
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Did you actually read his article? His passwords weren't cracked. He used multiple sites with policies that were internally consistent yet when combined across companies resulted in disclosure issues. Many of the same systems and policies are vulnerable to pentesters and, unfortunately, malicious users.

Mat's article is more of a "call to arms" about what can be done to fix the system. He's not a security or privacy expert. Many of us are, but he's just a writer who got blindsided by a group of kids trying to get his three letter twitter account. The examples given in the article demonstrate what is crucial for understanding the changing landscape of information and information privacy, and it shows at a level accessible to the lay user the challenges posed when trying to fix the problem.
 
As a new owner of a 3D TV, I have to admit it's really not as bad as I thought. I didn't really want the 3D feature, but most of the better TVs these days have it anyway. I think the biggest problem is that there's not enough 3D content, and the stuff that's available is too expensive. Seriously, a blu-ray is already more expensive than buying a dvd, and if you want to get the 3D blu-ray, you're looking at an extra $10 on top of the standard blu-ray "tax." I managed to pick up the 3D version of Avatar for $20, but everything else is at least $35. For that reason, I don't really see the 3D stuff as being anything more than something to show my friends if they've never seen it before or something.

Gaming in 3D is another story though. Uncharted 3 and GT5 in 3D are pretty cool experiences.
 
Tawnos said:
The problem isn't passwords. It is the reset mechanism. To quote the author from a talk he gave recently: "Any password reset system that is acceptable to a 65 year old will fail to a 14 year old hacker in seconds."
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On that note, I wish every site that has those idiotic security questions would have an option for a custom question, because most if not all of the ones they make available can be answered by someone you know. I like to make questions with nonsense answers like:
Q: What language do rainbows speak? A: Coat Hanger.
Sure I guess you could just use a nonsense answer to a normal question but I you could eventually forget that, if the question is also nonsense it should trigger the recollection of the nonsense answer.
 
The password thing:
I would agree that its strength/viability has more to do with the user, but whatever is used....it has to be stored on the server somewhere/somehow. Webmasters all too often don't set things up well enough to prevent outside access. Websites wouldn't get hacked so much if IT departments would actually consider real security a higher priority. The proof is in the pudding with examples like the Playstation Network. From what I've seen, security ends up being handed off to outside (out-sourced) agencies that themselves out-source (RSA and Lockheed Martin). Even if an employee goes with a good password, the employer ends up creating a swiss cheese security problem.

As for 3D tv:
You can't get 3D on a 2D screen. True 3D is holographic. Anything less is settling for second best.
 
Wired's website stinks. I'm sitting behind like a hugenormous, under utilized fiber pipe to the Intertubes and have endless message carrying cats at my disposal. The computer I'm using is a less than year old "RAWR, I'M AN ELECTRICITY EATING MONSTER" system and it takes like an eternity to load each of their stupid pages. I blame web developers for this.
 
Dekoth-E- said:
I used windows 8 for months and think it sucks on a non touch device. I formed that opinion in about the first 20 minutes and months of second chances didn't change it. Sorry to defy your well thought out logic there.
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Did I hurt your feeling somehow?
 
face2palm said:
The biggest tech fails are people that read/visit Wired or CNet.
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^This. I tried to read Wired and CNet, but as an IT professional working in the industry, all of their articles are basically crap. Many of their opinions don't mesh at all with the customer experience I saw when working for big companies. They also don't think about the many areas in which devices and technologies will be used. Also Wired just seems to be a fanboy publication talking up popularly marketed items rather than do actual research and testing of products. The funny thing is how apparenly "laplets" are huge failures...even though I have seen a lot of people switching to them over iPads lately because they offer far more. Even though the experience isn't as smooth, people really do still want function over just form. I mean they talk about the iPhone, yet Android has far exceeded iPhone purchases now.
 
Wired's vendetta against passwords just looks really, really silly. It just comes off as irrational, flailing butthurt. Any password's worth is determined by the user at the front and the IT staff at the back. Those are two major points of weakness that will NEVER go away, regardless of whatever security measure you think will replace passwords.
 
Weak passwords are old hat BS. Unless someone is getting access to the user database and running some dictionary attack on them, no one really ever has to worry about weak passwords. The thing to worry about these days is keyloggers. This notion that people are just guessing other peoples passwords is nonsense these days.
 
RadXge said:
Windows 8 is not a great improvement from Windows 7 but it still not as bad as some peoples like to say.
For $15, I would say that Windows 8 is not a bad deal... ;)
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Yeah, Windows 8 is terrible, but for $15 I couldn't see a reason not to get it. Some people call it a "walled garden" - agree completely. When 64 bit or DirectX 11 isn't a factor, I see no reason to really use it over my much more effecient XP install. I'd rather use Windows 7 still but i'm not going to pay a premium for that, nor do I feel like torrenting it. The best thing about Windows 8 is I actually have a legitimate copy! :p
 
Dekoth-E- said:
I used windows 8 for months and think it sucks on a non touch device. I formed that opinion in about the first 20 minutes and months of second chances didn't change it. Sorry to defy your well thought out logic there.
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He said the failure was people who dismissed Windows 8 without testing it themselves first.... You obviously gave Windows 8 a chance and tested it yourself before drawing conclusions, which is great!. Also, sounds like you don't even fully dismiss windows 8 as you imply that it does not suck on a touch device. You obviously don't fit under his fail category if you actually read his post correctly.
 
Wired is Apple's bitch. And it shows in every way: form over function, hype & marketing over meaningful content, obsession with whatever the flavor-of-the-week is, masturbating over their "awesome cool postmodern ironic" design skillz that no one "gets" because it's 2 awesome cool 4 U, that permanent air of self-satisfied, smug obtuseness...

Speaking of obtuse: passwords are the problem? Seriously? How about walling yourself into Apple's garden such that if one of your various online accounts is compromised -- BAM! All your DEVICES and LOCAL STORAGE are belong to us! This manifest genius writes for what is ostensibly a tech magazine, yet never apprehended the concept of BACKING UP his data -- even the irreplaceable photos/videos of his little girl! (I guess he figured since they were Apple devices they would "just work.") So he proclaims that now is the time to "kill the password," since they are the reason for his personal misfortune. And Wired takes that screed and makes it their cover article! Because it's an ad-bloated glossy rag and nothing moves units like trolling headlines.
 
poee said:
Speaking of obtuse: passwords are the problem? Seriously? How about walling yourself into Apple's garden such that if one of your various online accounts is compromised -- BAM! All your DEVICES and LOCAL STORAGE are belong to us! This manifest genius writes for what is ostensibly a tech magazine, yet never apprehended the concept of BACKING UP his data -- even the irreplaceable photos/videos of his little girl! (I guess he figured since they were Apple devices they would "just work.") So he proclaims that now is the time to "kill the password," since they are the reason for his personal misfortune. And Wired takes that screed and makes it their cover article! Because it's an ad-bloated glossy rag and nothing moves units like trolling headlines.
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Yet another person who didn't read the article and claims stuff that isn't true. For one, he had set up backups for his emails (which contributed to his data deletion problem), and his photos are meant to be automatically backed up as part of being cloud hosted. Things like photos aren't practical to re-duplicate across multiple hosting solutions, not to mention the expense and privacy concerns that kind of cross-site hosting can incur.

Things that are features can be weaponized, often in unexpected ways and for unexpected reasons.
 
Tawnos said:
Yet another person who didn't read the article and claims stuff that isn't true.
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I have the magazine right here. Who in the fuck are you to say I haven't read it? Are you a Wired apologist? Kiss my ass.`
 
poee said:
I have the magazine right here. Who in the fuck are you to say I haven't read it? Are you a Wired apologist? Kiss my ass.`
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*smooch*

I don't need to be an apologist to know what the core of the article spoke to, and why it is a current and ongoing problem that is going to require rethinking how we do online security.
 
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