The critically-acclaimed Galaxy Note 7 was supposed to be Samsung’s next big thing, but became a nightmare instead.
2016 was a doozy for tech.
Russia reportedly intervened in the US presidential election by hacking the Democratic party and other institutions, with the intention of supporting President-elect Donald Trump. Yahoo Finance’s parent company, Yahoo, revealed that it had been hacked in 2013 and 2014. Twitter (TWTR) saw another slew of executives leave. And Apple (AAPL) killed the headphone jack, while Samsung’s Galaxy Note 7 proved explosive (literally).
Yahoo Finance takes a look back at some of tech’s worst moments and biggest snafus over the last year.
President-elect Donald Trump denies Russia hacked the Democratic National Committee and other institutions in an effort to sway this year’s election.
Russia meddled in the US presidential election…
Perhaps the extremely dubious title for “greatest hack of all time” belongs to Russia’s cyber attacks earlier this year in a concerted effort to sway the US presidential election in Trump’s favor.
The US Department of Homeland Security and Office of the Director of National Intelligence dropped a bombshell when it announced in October it was “confident” Russia orchestrated the hacking of the Democratic National Committee and other political organizations of the Democratic Party.
Those hacks resulted in the public release of thousands of stolen emails, many of which included damaging revelations about the Democratic Party and Hillary Clinton.
Clinton has been criticized, for example, for her handling of classified information as secretary of state and using personal email addresses hosted on a private server for work messages — a controversy that plagued Clinton throughout much of her presidential campaign.
When the issue first reached public attention in March last year, John Podesta, former chairman of Clinton’s campaign, was critical of three fellow Clinton aides in emails eventually leaked to WikiLeaks: “Speaking of transparency, our friends [David] Kendall, Cheryl [Mills] and Philippe [Reines] sure weren’t forthcoming on the facts here.”
“This is a Cheryl special,” responded Neera Tanden, president of the Center for American Progress thinktank in Washington, “Know you love her, but this stuff is like her Achilles heal [sic]. Or kryptonite … Why didn’t they get this stuff out like 18 months ago? So crazy.”
“Unbelievable,” Podesta wrote back.
Replied Tanden: “I guess I know the answer. They wanted to get away with it.”
Trump, for his part, denounced the US intelligence community’s findings. Regardless, the Obama administration announced on Thursday an aggressive retaliation plan against Russia for meddling with the election, which includes kicking 35 Russian operatives out of the US and placing sanctions on two Russian intelligence agencies.
In an effort to outcompete Apple’s iPhone 7, Samsung rushed development of the Galaxy Note 7, according to reports, leading to fault batteries. Source: AFP
Samsung’s Galaxy Note 7 blew up…
The critically-acclaimed Galaxy Note 7 was supposed to be Samsung’s next big thing, “a key that opens the door to new experiences on the go,” the company advertised. Unfortunately, the smartphone did just that, though probably not in the way it had hoped.
In an effort to outcompete Apple’s iPhone 7, the world’s largest smartphone maker rushed development of the Note 7, according to a Bloomberg report, driving suppliers to meet tighter deadlines, despite a slew of new features, including a high-resolution screen that wrapped around the edges, eye recognition security and a more powerful, faster-charging battery.
At least 35 cases of phones catching fire emerged, caused by short-circuiting batteries, many analysts say. Buses and airlines banned their use. Samsung issued a first recall in mid-September — a move that affected at least 1 million units — but made the crucial error of shipping replacement units before it actually figured out the cause of the Note 7’s fiery combustion. When reports over replacement devices catching fire emerged in October, Samsung officially asked all carrier and retail partners to halt sales of the Note 7 and issued a second recall for device. As a result, the smartphone maker saw profits for its mobile division plummet 96% year-over-year during the third-quarter of 2016, costing Samsung as much as $17 billion, by analyst estimates.
But while the Note 7 is finally, finally dead, the notoriety around it lingers. Airlines still warn passengers against having the device on flights, and the smartphone remains a popular punchline.
Fake news became a serious problem this year following the US presidential election.
Fake news became a real problem…
This year’s presidential election highlighted the importance of fact-checking.
Indeed, while fake news stories have been a problem for years, pledges to combat them only emerged after election results shocked much of the US. Fake stories such as how Trump snagged the popular vote (he didn’t) and how Pope Francis endorsed Trump (he didn’t), offered a false narrative that reinforced beliefs.
Many pointed a finger at Facebook (FB), where the top three fake news stories “generated more engagement” a Buzzfeed probe reported that the top stories from 19 major news outlets, including The New York Times and the Washington Post, combined. The report also revealed that during the last three months of the presidential campaign of the top 20 fake election-related articles on Facebook, all but three were either pro-Trump or anti-Clinton, which Facebook users liked, commented on or shared over 8.7 million times.
To be fair, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg recently announced plans to combat fake news by making it easier for users to report fake stories. Zuckerberg also plans on hiring third-party groups of fact checkers from organizations like Associated Press, ABC News and FactCheck.
Microsoft’s short-lived chatbot Tay was intended to converse with the younger set and get smarter as time went on. Source: Twitter
Microsoft’schatbot went rogue…
Back in March, Microsoft (MSFT) unveiled Tay, a female chatbot with its own Twitter account in an effort to connect with 18- to 24-year-olds. Microsoft promised Tay would learn from them and get smarter with time.
Tay never got that far. Within 24 hours, Tay emerged as a neo-Nazi, anti-feminist nymphomaniac, tweeting about smoking drugs, contending “Hitler was right…” and “feminists should … burn in hell.”
“We are deeply sorry for the unintended offensive and hurtful tweets from Tay,” wrote Peter Lee, head of Microsoft Research, in ablog post the following day. “Tay is now offline.”
2016 was a tough year for Theranos CEO Elizabeth Holmes. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid
Theranos lost it…
To say Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes had a tough year would be a gross understatement.
The Stanford dropout, who graced multiple magazine covers in years past, was once hailed as a visionary for developing blood-testing technology that promised to accurately screen for diseases in a fraction of the time at a fraction of the cost.
But after aWall Street Journal report in October 2015 debunked her company’s blood tests as faulty, the once beloved CEO—who channeled Steve Jobs by wearing black turtlenecks —was barred from owning or running a laboratory for two years. To add insult to injury, Forbes magazine, which previously trumpeted Holmes as the youngest self-made female billionaire, slashed Theranos’s $9 billion valuation to just $800 million, and declared Holmes’s stake in the company, Forbes said, is “essentially worth nothing.” Burn.
As a result, Theranos announced a serious change in strategy, closing its labs and wellness centers, as well as laying off 340 employees, to focus on production of its miniLab platform, or manufacturing miniature medical testing machines.
Tesla’s Autopilot feature promises “full self-driving capability at a safety level substantially greater than that of a human driver.”
Tesla auto-pilot sees its first fatality…
Hailed asinnovative, Tesla’s (TSLA) Autopilot feature promises “full self-driving capability at a safety level substantially greater than that of a human driver,” the company’s site reads.
Thanks to a software update, the car can steer, manage its speed, change lanes and even park itself. But the feature hit a serious road bump in early May when 40-year-old former NAVY Seal Joshua Brown died while using the system in a Model S.
Brown was driving in Willston, Fla. when a tractor trailer drove across the highway perpendicular to the Model S. Neither Brown — who Tesla noted is ultimately responsible for the vehicle’s actions, even with Autopilot on — nor the car noticed the big rig or the trailer “against a brightly lit sky,” so the brakes never kicked in. Tesla CEO Elon Musk explained in a tweet why the vehicle’s radar detection didn’t help in this case.
Brown, who was reportedly watching a Harry Potter movie mid-ride, was the first fatality from using Autopilot, a rare instance Tesla said only occurs while using the system every 94 million miles in the US and every 60 million miles worldwide. In the months since, Tesla has updated the Autopilot to increase safety, imposing speed limits and introducing more alerts and warnings.
Regardless, Brown’s death undoubtedly reminds many drivers that they shouldn’t take their eyes off the wheel for a second, regardless of who — or what — is driving.
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JP Mangalindan is a senior correspondent for Yahoo Finance covering the intersection of tech and business. Follow him onTwitter orFacebook.
