2019 is the year tech couldn't stop screwing up
As we close out the decade, we've been forced to give up our dream of a tech
paradise.
November 24, 2019 5:00 AM PST
The tech industry was riding high a decade ago: Facebook and Twitter were
becoming vital tools for pro-democracy protesters around the world, Apple's
iPhone was taking off, and a new class of startups like Uber and TaskRabbit
appeared ready to change the world.
As we close out the 2010s, the love affair we all had with tech has
definitely soured.
Social media may be helping connect people, but it's also been twisted into
a tool of propagandists aiming to upend our elections. It's become home to
serial harassers, who send out troll armies that threaten to rape and kill
their perceived enemies. It's become a hotbed of revenge porn and conspiracy
theories. It's the way mass murderers have livestreamed their terror.
But it wasn't all Facebook, Twitter and YouTube screwing up. There was also
Uber's IPO, WeWork's failures and MoviePass' passing -- among many, many
fiascoes.
As we prepare for 2020, here's a look back, in no particular order, at the
crazy year that was 2019.
This isn't just about what we think about 2019, by the way. Tell us about
anything that caught your attention, and why, in the comments below.
Samsung Galaxy Fold mess
Angela Lang/CNET
Samsung's Galaxy Fold was one of the most anticipated phones of the year.
It's a tablet-size device that can fold in half, into a phone. It looked
like the future. Reviewers loved the idea. Readers were clamoring to know
more.
But just days before its launch, reviewers began taking to Twitter to
express concerns about its screen. Some had accidentally destroyed the
device while removing what they thought was a protective film for shipping.
Though Galaxy Fold preorders sold out the first day, the phone's launch was
pulled and no money was collected.
It was a shocking mistake by a company that only just in 2017 faced
criticism over exploding batteries in its Galaxy Note 7 phones.
Samsung eventually fixed the problem, adding a protective cap to the folding
hinge and changing the way the protective film was put on the phone's
screen. But by the time the gadget went back on sale in September, reviewers
were focused on what was wrong with it.
CNET itself tested how many times the Galaxy Fold could... fold. Turns out
the answer was 119,380 folds -- short of the 200,000, or estimated five
years of use, that Samsung said the phone should be able to withstand.
Facebook FTC fine is only $5 billion
Angela Lang/CNET
Two years after we learned of Facebook's malfeasance in allowing the profile
information of as many as 87 million people to be leaked to British
political consulting firm Cambridge Analytica, the US Federal Trade
Commission finally decided on how to punish the social network. The answer
was a $5 billion fine and an agreement that Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and
some of his lieutenants would sign statements promising they were protecting
user privacy.
"Despite repeated promises to its billions of users worldwide that they
could control how their personal information is shared, Facebook undermined
consumers' choices," said FTC Chairman Joe Simons in a statement announcing
the fine. "The relief is designed not only to punish future violations but,
more importantly, to change Facebook's entire privacy culture to decrease
the likelihood of continued violations."
Few were impressed with the outcome, though. Some noted that it's a drop in
the bucket for Facebook, which made $22 billion in profit last year.
Kara Swisher, editor-at-large for Recode, who's interviewed Zuckerberg in
public several times, wrote a New York Times column titled: "Put another
zero on Facebook's fine. Then we can talk." The thrust of her argument was
that such a small fine in the face of Facebook's overwhelming wealth "won't
change anything."
For his part, Zuckerberg said in a statement that the social network would
make "major structural changes" to how it builds products and conducts
business.
"We have a responsibility to protect people's privacy," Zuckerberg wrote.
"We already work hard to live up to this responsibility, but now we're going
to set a completely new standard for our industry."
Facebook's Libra mess
Facebook
Amid its myriad controversies, Zuckerberg decided it would be a good time to
wade into more politics by announcing a new currency called Libra. It was
designed, Facebook said, as an internet-friendly way to move and store
money. Though Facebook would be one of the biggest companies involved, a
consortium called the Libra Association would run it. And Facebook itself
would have a subsidiary, called Calibra, to handle regulation.
Naturally, there was skepticism. This was Facebook, after all.
By the time Libra had its first meeting in October, a quarter of the
original 28 founding members (including PayPal, eBay, Stripe, Visa and
Mastercard) had dropped out.
As for Facebook, Zuckerberg got an earful during a hearing with Congress
shortly after the departures.
"As I have examined Facebook's various problems," California Rep. Maxine
Waters said to open one of the congressional hearings on Libra, "I have come
to the conclusion that it would be beneficial for all if Facebook
concentrates on addressing its many existing deficiencies and failures
before proceeding any further on the Libra project."
Apple FaceTime bug
James Martin/CNET
Apple says a lot of things separate its products from those of competitors.
There's the slick design, the thoughtful software and the promise that
everything will work together almost seamlessly.
Over the past couple of years, Apple has also made the case that its
products are more respectful of our privacy. The company even put up a
billboard during the annual CES show in Las Vegas in January saying "What
happens on your iPhone, stays on your iPhone."
Then, in late January, users discovered a bug in Apple's FaceTime video chat
software that let you remotely turn on anyone's camera and microphone with
little warning.
Apple immediately shut down its Group FaceTime service while it worked on a
fix.
A couple of weeks later, Apple released a fix, and reiterated that it takes
the security of its products "extremely seriously."
Tesla's Cybertruck launch hits a bump
When Tesla CEO Elon Musk got on stage, he had everything ready. He had a
cheering crowd, an eye-catching new vehicle to show off and a demo to give.
Two and a half minutes later, his plans were shattered.
It all began with the with the Cybertruck. Unlike Musk's sedans, race cars
and SUVs, the Cybertruck is aimed at -- well, you get it.
To appeal to the truck-buying people who see ads like "Built Ford Tough,"
Musk & Co. concocted a series of dramatic experiments to show how much
tougher the Cybertruck is.
First, one of Musk's lieutenants swung a sledgehammer at a normal truck
door, leaving a dent. Next, he slammed it into the Cybertruck's steel door,
and the door was unblemished.
Then it was time to show off the "armor glass," which Musk claimed was a
"transparent metal-glass." His team began by dropping a huge ball bearing on
a normal pane of glass from several feet in the air. It immediately cracked.
Next, the armor glass. The first few tries, it came away looking fine. The
ball fell with a different-sounding thud, and as it was dropped several more
times, anyone wincing and waiting for the glass to break had likely calmed
down and was thinking "Musk planned this demo; it'll go how he wants it to."
That, dear reader, is where everyone was wrong.
After the stage-demo science experiments, a proud Musk asked his lieutenant
to throw the ball bearing at the Cybertruck's driver side window. A moment
later, a web of cracks appeared where the ball bearing hit the glass. Musk,
seemingly horrified, let out an expletive. For some reason, the lieutenant
repeated his assault on the back passenger's window, and broke it too.
Musk attempted to save face, saying, "it didn't go through."
For the rest of the presentation, the broken windows just sat there, behind
Musk: the new symbol of the Cybertruck. And Tesla will go down in history
for one of the biggest fails in stage demo history.
The credits roll on MoviePass
MoviePass
Oh, MoviePass. You were always too good to be true. A $10 per month deal
that let subscribers watch a movie a day, every day, in most theaters around
the US was perhaps one of the worst business ideas ever. Especially
considering it costs at least $3 more than that just to see one movie.
After a roller coaster year of drama in 2018, MoviePass cried "cut" and shut
down Sept. 14.
If you're looking for alternatives, CNET has you covered.
Apple's butterfly keyboard gets mothballed
Butterflies are beautiful. Unfortunately, they make for troublesome
keyboards.
In 2015, Apple began selling laptops with a new keyboard featuring a key
design that was called the butterfly because of how it worked. (You can
watch Apple's video about that here.) But it turned out the butterfly keys
were prone to collecting dust, and of failing to register presses, or of
sensing too many. The problems were vexing enough that Apple created a
replacement program for the entire line while also attempting to solve the
problem. Alas, even Apple's design wizards have their limits.
With the 2016 MacBook Pro, announced last month, Apple went back to the
standard "scissor" design. Reviewers were elated. The keys, CNET's Scott
Stein said, feel "more natural, and have a more generous 1mm of 'travel' --
so when you depress the key, you actually feel it move."
For some pregnant workers, Amazon warehouses are a nightmare
Sarah Tew/CNET
We've been hearing for years about grueling working conditions in Amazon's
warehouses, but in May, CNET reported that the e-commerce giant fired seven
pregnant workers, some shortly after they informed managers of their
condition.
The ones who stayed on the job quickly learned that Amazon's grueling work
environment was even more unforgiving to pregnant employees. For example,
Amazon tracks when employees go to the bathroom, something pregnant ladies
do quite often.
"I said, 'I'm telling you this because I'm going to have to use the bathroom
more,' and [a manager] said, 'It's still against the rules,'" said Beverly
Rosale, one of the women who struggled with work while pregnant. "We can't
control our bladders. If we have to go, we have to go."
When Amazon fired Rosale, she said, the company told her she'd been taking
too much time off, without acknowledging her pregnancy.
"It is absolutely not true that Amazon would fire any employee for being
pregnant; we are an equal opportunity employer," an Amazon spokeswoman said
in a statement. "We work with our employees to accommodate their medical
needs including pregnancy-related needs. We also support new parents by
offering various maternity and parental leave benefits."
Amazon earlier said it wasn't able to discuss the specifics of Rosales'
lawsuit or other lawsuits. But in response to a request for comment for this
story, the company said it "works hard to provide a safe, quality working
environment for the more than 300,000 full and part-time employees working
in our fulfillment and operations facilities across the US," adding that it
offers up to 20 weeks of maternal and paternal paid leave, a work
flexibility program for new parents, and full medical, vision and dental
insurance.
Ring's cozy relationship with local police
Chris Monroe/CNET
Over the past year, CNET also learned details about the relationship between
Amazon's Ring subsidiary and law enforcement. We learned Amazon was helping
police build a surveillance network with Ring, and encouraging law
enforcement to hawk its video doorbells without disclosing the relationship.
Amazon has also partnered with more than 500 cities to use Ring footage for
law enforcement purposes, according to digital rights group Fight for the
Future. In August, Ring released a map that lets you see if it's working
with your local police department.
The revelations culminated in a letter from five US senators, sent to
Amazon, asking for details about how Ring handles video footage, what its
testing and auditing practices are, and its plans in regard to facial
recognition.
Ring said in a statement for this story that it doesn't own or control
users' videos and people get to decide whether to share videos with the
police.
5G isn't here, but for AT&T, that wasn't enough
Angela Lang/CNET
Everyone in the tech industry is excited about 5G. This new wireless
technology is supposed to revolutionize the way we communicate, offering
faster and more-reliable internet for our phones, while also more easily
connecting cars, medical equipment and all sorts of other gizmos.
It's been slowly rolling out over the past year, getting turned on in cities
like Chicago, Los Angeles and London.
But for AT&T, that wasn't enough. While everyone waits for 5G, the wireless
giant decided to rebrand its upgraded 4G technology as "5GE."
Industry analysts, commentators and competitors cried foul, saying AT&T's
"deceptive" move would confuse everyone. Sprint even sued (the two
eventually settled, though AT&T still uses the branding).
As for all of us, it turns out AT&T's bet paid off. In May, about one in
three Americans surveyed believed they had 5G. (They don't.) Of them, 40%
were iPhone owners, who definitely don't have 5G iPhones, because Apple
hasn't yet started selling any.
Sigh.
The US government really doesn't like Huawei
Corinne Reichert/CNET
China-based Huawei is a popular communications technology maker known for
creating reliable and cheap networking equipment and smartphones. But the
scrutiny over Huawei has heightened over the last few years, in part after
FBI Director Christopher Wray warned against buying Huawei and ZTE phones.
This led to retailers and government agencies banning Huawei's technology.
By this summer, President Donald Trump was calling Huawei a "national
security threat," though without evidence.
Huawei was put on a government watchlist that barred US businesses from
working with the company, which meant Huawei might lose access to key
services Gmail and the Google Play app store. The company unveiled its own
operating system as a potential alternative.
Amid all this, Huawei CFO Meng Wanzhou was arrested in Canada on Dec. 6,
2018, at the request of the US. She's been imprisoned since, attempting to
fight extradition to the United States.
Equifax settlement money goes from more than a hundred dollars to
effectively zero
Graphic by Pixabay/Illustration by CNET
Following Equifax's monumental privacy lapse, which allowed hackers to steal
personal information of more than 147 million people in 2017, the company
announced a settlement requiring it to hand out as much as $700 million in
fines and payments to victims.
As part of the settlement, Equifax said it would offer 10 years of free
credit monitoring or $125 in cash. Well, so many people signed up for the
money that the Federal Trade Commission had to warn that the pot of cash set
aside might dwindle to the point that people who opted for the payment would
get close to nothing.
Stay tuned to find out which way Equifax will screw this up next.
Congress still can't hold decent hearings on tech
Getty Images
Oh, Congress, will you ever understand technology? So far, the answer
appears to be a resounding "no." And thanks to that, we got several Capitol
Hill hearings this year that went far off the rails.
Chief among them was a hearing on white supremacy, which devolved into
partisan bickering.
Candace Owens, of the conservative college activist group Turning Point USA,
argued to the committee that the hearing's actual goal was "fear-mongering,
power and control" on the part of the committee's Democrats. One lawmaker
responded by playing a video of Owens discussing Nazi leader Adolf Hitler's
nationalism.
By the end, many of the committee members had left, and all Twitter could
talk about was Owens' fiery rhetoric and the streams of racist and ugly
comments left on the committee's YouTube page.
A Senate hearing the next day was no better. Titled "Stifling Free Speech:
Technological Censorship and the Public Discourse," it became a series of
circular debates. Republican Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas argued, without
evidence, that social media companies were broadly silencing people they
politically disagreed with.
Facebook lets politicians lie in political ads
Angela Lang/CNET
As the 2020 election campaign heats up, tech companies are scrambling to
make sure they don't get blamed for any problems that might arise.
Twitter, for example, said it would ban political ads. Google said it would
restrict them. Facebook, meanwhile, said it would allow ads from politicians
to say whatever they want.
"The reason for [this policy] is that we believe that in a democracy, it is
important that people can see for themselves what politicians are saying,"
Zuckerberg said during an October hearing on Capitol Hill. "Political speech
is some of the most scrutinized speech already in the world."
Many people disagreed with him, including Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren,
of Massachusetts, who ran an ad with a lie about Zuckerberg supporting
Trump, just to make her point.
"Facebook changed their ads policy to allow politicians to run ads with
known lies -- explicitly turning the platform into a
disinformation-for-profit machine," Warren tweeted. "This week, we decided
to see just how far it goes."
Zuckerberg still hasn't backed down.
Conservatives vs. Silicon Valley
Graphic by Pixabay/Illustration by CNET
Cruz isn't the only person who worries about how conservatives are treated
by the tech industry. It's also a pet issue for Trump, who's claimed --
without evidence -- that tech companies stifle his and other people's social
media posts.
The White House even set up a form in May, encouraging anyone who's been
affected by tech's alleged "censorship" to speak out. The White House hasn't
released the results of the survey.
Still, that didn't stop people from pushing on tech companies directly over
conservative issues. They've argued the companies need to embrace "political
diversity," a twist on the tech industry's efforts to bring more ethnic and
gender diversity into its ranks.
One of the most dramatic moments this year was at Apple's annual shareholder
meeting, in March, during which some investors argued that the iPhone maker
should have mandatory "ideological diversity" on its board.
"Diversity is not what someone looks like, it's the sum of what they think,"
activist Justin Danhof said at the meeting. Danhof, who's general counsel
for the National Center for Public Policy Research, added that the tech
industry's focus on increasing racial and gender diversity is "racism and
sexism."
The proposal was shot down, with more than 98 percent of voting shareholders
casting ballots against it.
"We are open to people from all walks of life," Apple CEO Tim Cook said in
response, noting that this includes political points of view, religious
beliefs and sexual orientation.
Apple's software teams struggle
Apple
With Apple, part of the appeal is the promise that its software and devices
just work. Until they don't.
In September, the company released iOS 13 and Catalina, the latest in its
annual free updates for its iPhones, iPads and Mac computers. Every time
this happens, there are bugs and various issues that take the company a few
weeks to iron out with another software update.
But this time, those bugs persisted. In CNET's review of Catalina, Jason
Hiner wrote that unless you need the new features, "I'd recommend waiting
for it until after Catalina's first few incremental updates."
"Catalina is fairly stable," he added, "especially compared to the early
releases of iOS 13 and iPadOS this year, but waiting for the first updates
is always safe advice for operating system upgrades."
The bugs were so problematic that Apple apparently is overhauling the way it
releases software in the future, Bloomberg reported, to ensure that it's
more usable on release, and not just after updates to fix new bugs.
Uber's IPO hits a speed bump
Angela Lang/CNET
Before May, Uber seemed poised for an upswing. New CEO Dara Khosrowshahi
helped turn around the company's toxic work culture, and appeared to be
settling fights with cities around the world. And don't forget that Uber was
one of the world's largest startups, valued at potentially $120 billion.
Then we found out Uber was hemorrhaging cash. Like, more than $1 billion a
quarter. It turned out Uber had never been profitable, and may never be.
Uber said it needed to spend money to expand into new markets and to attract
customers, but investors weren't convinced. Uber ended its first day of
trading on Friday, May 10, at $41 per share, nearly 9% down from the $45
preopen price.
The next day of trading, Monday, the stock fell even further, to $36 per
share. "Like all periods of transition, there are ups and downs,"
Khosrowshahi wrote in an email to employees, according to CNBC. "Obviously
our stock did not trade as well as we had hoped post-IPO. Today is another
tough day in the market, and I expect the same as it relates to our stock."
It's currently bouncing below $30 per share, valued at about $50 billion.
WeWork IPO does even worse
Alfred Ng/CNET
Uber: Well, that was a rough IPO. WeWork: Hold my beer.
The company rose to stardom offering "co-working" space, a Silicon
Valley-esque office environment you could rent, with beer on tap, Wi-Fi and
comfy couches.
Initially, it was all the rage with aspiring entrepreneurs, but soon it was
being used by big companies such as IBM, Facebook, Microsoft and UBS.
By 2019, WeWork was valued at $47 billion, based on investments including
more than $10 billion from the firm SoftBank.
I'm sure you can see what's coming next: The disaster began to unfold when
WeWork filed its IPO paperwork publicly, disclosing a complex web of
companies that made up "We," and other shady business practices. On top of
all that, it turned out the company's CEO, Adam Neumann, had done
questionable things like buying buildings WeWork was based out of and then
renting space to the company. Or trademarking the company's brand, and then
licensing it for $5.9 million (he eventually returned that money, though).
Neumann "stepped down" from his job in September, but not before agreeing to
a golden parachute of $1.7 billion. At that point, the company's valuation
was in shambles and it pulled its IPO plans.
WeWork's other failures
WeWork
Oh, you thought we were done with WeWork? Not quite. It also turned out the
company had lax security on its Wi-Fi networks, leaving tenants' sensitive
documents, like bank account credentials and financial records, exposed.
If that wasn't enough, the company in October alerted tenants that at least
1,600 of its phone booths in the US and Canada had "potential elevated
levels of formaldehyde."
All the major companies may've listened to your voice assistant chats
James Martin/CNET
Voice assistants have had a bumpy run so far. Sure, they promise to play
music, help you automate your smart home, and even tell you the occasional
joke if you ask, but they don't always understand you correctly.
That said, they've been getting better since their debut a decade ago. And
recently, we learned how.
It turned out that Amazon, Apple, Google, Facebook and Microsoft were all
sending anonymized recordings to a group of contractors to "grade" how well
the voice assistants understood us and to help them learn when they got
things wrong. Oh, and they didn't really do a good job telling us they were
doing this. Which is a problem when Alexa accidentally records you in
intimate moments, or in the middle of an important meeting, or anything else
really.
Throughout the year, each company admitted publicly that it had in fact been
listening to a sampling of recordings, and promised to audit its processes
to make sure our security was protected.
Apple went a step further, making its program opt-in -- so you're not a part
of it unless you explicitly tell Apple you want to be.
Lyft reportedly has a sexual assault problem with its drivers
Angela Lang/CNET
Typically seen as the friendlier and more politically conscious ride-hailing
company, Lyft came under fire this year for allegedly not doing enough to
protect riders from sexual assault, kidnapping and rape by its drivers.
Hundreds of women have reported incidents, according to lawyers representing
victims, and at least 34 people have either filed or joined lawsuits against
the company.
Uber reportedly has as many accusations, but lawyers said it has a better
record of working with victims. Lyft allegedly tends to stonewall victims --
ignoring, dismissing or downplaying their assertions. Neither company has
released data on how many assaults are linked to their drivers, but both
have said they intend to do so at some point.
"Not a day goes by when we aren't thinking about the safety of our
platform," a Lyft spokeswoman said.
Bedbugs are reportedly infiltrating Airbnb rentals
Robert Rodriguez/CNET
Hundreds of Airbnb hosts and guests have reported run-ins with bedbugs --
the small pests that tend to take blood meals from unsuspecting victims as
they sleep. Though hotels, motels and other hospitality locales have also
experienced issues with the critters, Airbnb has been criticized for
reportedly not having a systematic procedure in place for handling
outbreaks.
Travelers have reported tales of waking up in rentals covered in red, itchy
welts, or inspecting mattresses to find hundreds of the creepy-crawly bugs.
In most cases, Airbnb reportedly won't relocate people to a new rental
because they're too much of a "risk." Instead the company allegedly tells
them to book a hotel.
"We take bedbug complaints as seriously as we would any safety or
cleanliness complaint," an Airbnb spokesman said.
Because Airbnb's business model is built on millions of independent hosts
renting out their homes, the company doesn't have a lot of control over what
those hosts do or don't do to keep house. And hosts have said Airbnb doesn't
warn them that bedbugs can be an issue with travelers or give them tips to
prevent infestations.
Google employees accuse company of retaliation
Stephen Shankland/CNET
Last year, Google employees made history with their worldwide walkout,
spurred by sexual harassment allegations at the company. But soon after,
employees alleged they were being unfairly targeted by management for their
organizing efforts.
Two walkout organizers, Claire Stapleton and Meredith Whittaker, said their
roles were minimized. Stapleton said she was asked to go on medical leave
even though she wasn't sick. In May, six months after the walkout, employees
held a sit-in to protest a "culture of retaliation." Both Stapleton and
Whittaker quit Google this year.
Employees accused Google of retaliation again at another rally in November,
after the company put two employees on administrative leave for accessing
documents and calendar information that Google says was beyond the scope of
their jobs. Activists at the company, though, said the move was punishment
for speaking out against Google. Both employees had been involved in many
employee protests, including a petition urging the company not to bid on
contracts to work with border agencies, as well as a campaign against
promoting harassment on YouTube.
Amazon's HQ2 flops in New York
Ben Fox Rubin/CNET
Amazon's giant HQ2 project once was considered a national prize. In 2017,
the e-commerce giant announced plans for a second headquarters based outside
Seattle. But the where was up to us. Governments around the country were
invited to compete, sending in applications with tax incentives, development
plans and other reasons Amazon should choose their locale for its second
home.
The winner would get 50,000 workers and $5 billion in expenditures.
About a year later, Amazon announced it would split the project in two,
between Queens, New York, and Crystal City, Virginia, just outside
Washington, DC. Even before the official announcement, opposition to the New
York campus kicked off. Several local progressive politicians, buoyed by the
recent election of democratic socialist Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez to
Congress, criticized the project. Amazon's $3 billion incentives package was
derided as corporate welfare, especially because of Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos'
position as the world's richest person.
Amazon's anti-union posture in a heavily union city was another major
problem. The addition of so many Amazon workers was expected to burden an
already strained infrastructure. The company's plan for a helipad was
mocked.
By the beginning of 2019, Amazon had had enough. It pulled the project in
New York.
The drama over the whole affair is expected to cause more cities to rethink
their lavish incentive packages to lure businesses. But it may also
encourage other companies to attempt to copy Amazon's approach.
Bezos' National Enquirer blackmail brouhaha
James Martin/CNET
Around the same time Amazon canceled its New York plans, Bezos announced
he'd been blackmailed by "top people" at the National Enquirer.
The gossip magazine, whose owner has close ties to President Trump, said the
paper threatened to publish nude photos of him unless he ended an
investigation into how the publication had obtained and then published text
messages between him and his girlfriend.
Instead, Bezos published the email exchanges he'd had with the publication,
in an effort to expose the plot against him.
"Rather than capitulate to extortion and blackmail, I've decided to publish
exactly what they sent me, despite the personal cost and embarrassment they
threaten," Bezos said in the post, which includes emails allegedly from
National Enquirer publisher American Media Inc.
This was particularly interesting not just because Bezos' dirty laundry was
about to be aired, but also because he's the owner of the Washington Post, a
newspaper Trump frequently criticizes (And calls it the "Amazon Washington
Post," even though it's Bezos himself who owns the paper, not Amazon.)
AMI, meanwhile, had admitted just two months prior to "working in concert"
with the Trump campaign to pay off a women ahead of the 2016 election to
quash her stories of having an affair with Trump.
The case is still ongoing.
EA's Anthem disappoints
Electronic Arts
Electronic Arts seemed to have a megahit on its hands when it announced
Anthem in 2017. The game followed a group of people in mechanical "javelin"
suits (like Iron Man) as they traveled around the world getting rid of
dangerous animals, fighting enemies and protecting one of the last human
colonies on an alien planet.
The hype followed for years until 2019's February release, during which
things turned decidedly worse. At first reviewers, like CNET sister site
GameSpot, found technical glitches, inconsistently fun gameplay and a poor
story. "Anthem has good ideas, but it struggles significantly with the
execution," GameSpot's Kallie Plagge wrote after 27 hours playing the game.
"You never quite shake that feeling of disappointment -- of knowing,
throughout the good parts of Anthem, that you'll inevitably come crashing
back down."
But the community was already angry. EA staggered the game's release, giving
access at first to its highest paying subscription customers.
The game ultimately earned a Metacritic score of 59 ("mixed") out of 100.
Only 5 of the 76 critics Metacritic tracked gave it a positive score.
Two months later, Kotaku published a lengthy article detailing Anthem's
troubled development. At the E3 video game conference in June, EA said it
"learned a lot" from Anthem's release, but the company didn't apologize to
fans.
At this point, EA is reportedly -- again, from Kotaku -- in the midst of
revamping the game. We'll see if the second time's a charm.
Activision Blizzard steps in it with China
Robert Rodriguez/CNET
On Oct. 5, an esports star, Blitzchung, appeared in an interview at a video
game tournament wearing a gas mask and ski goggles, and said "liberate Hong
Kong! Revolution of our age!"
Blitzchung was expressing solidarity with pro-democracy protesters in Hong
Kong, who'd been demonstrating since March over Beijing's involvement with
the local government.
Blizzard acted swiftly, announcing that Blitzchung was banned from
competition for 12 months and stripped of his winnings. The two broadcasters
interviewing him, who apparently knew of his plans, were also fired.
The backlash was immediate and intense. Some fans argued Blizzard was siding
with the Chinese government because gamers in that country bring in millions
of dollars a year for the company. Even some Blizzard employees were upset,
covering up plaques on the company's campus that said "Think Globally" and
"Every Voice Matters."
Blizzard denied that the player ban had anything to do with China, but it
reduced Blitzchung's ban to six months and gave him back his winnings.
That didn't stop people from traveling to Blizzard's annual Blizzcon fan
event in Anaheim, Calif. to protest. At the opening ceremonies, on Nov. 1,
company president J. Allen Brack apologized for how the controversy was
handled. However, many people criticized the apology for not specifying the
actions Blizzard took and for not mentioning the company's ties with China.
Game of Thrones' final episode
HBO
Really?
Livestreaming comes under scrutiny after New Zealand shootings
Graphic by Pixabay/Illustration by CNET
One of the most horrifying things about the shooting in New Zealand was that
the killer broadcast his massacre on live video over Facebook.
Fewer than 200 people saw the stream live, and the social network didn't
even know about the video until 12 minutes after it ended. But during that
time, the video was downloaded and reshared across the internet.
In the first 24 hours after the event, Facebook purged 1.5 million uploads
of the video, 80 percent of which were blocked before going live on the
social network.
Facebook wasn't alone struggling against people constantly attempting to
reupload the video, but it did bear the responsibility of being the place
the video was created.
8Chan becomes home to shooter manifestos and livestreams
CNET
8Chan, a website that says it's devoted to unrestrained and anonymous free
expression, was already known as a hotbed of conspiracy theories and
harassment.
But the website came under new scrutiny when a terrorist in New Zealand
published his manifesto and a link to a livestream from his helmet camera as
he killed 51 people on a rampage at two mosques in the town of Christchurch.
Following the assault, more attackers posted on the site before they went on
similar rampages. 8Chan became an unofficial destination for these posts,
where fans would then encourage the killers.
8Chan went offline in August, following a mass shooting in El Paso, Texas,
whose perpetrator was tied to a manifesto published on 8Chan. The site's
owner, Jim Watkins, was subpoenaed and appeared privately before the US
House Committee on Homeland Security in September and said he'd keep the
site offline voluntarily until tools were developed to counter illegal
content.
On Oct. 6, the 8Chan Twitter account uploaded a video featuring a new name
for the site: 8kun. The new site officially went live Nov. 2. Watkins
uploaded a video on the same day saying the site was experiencing heavy
traffic. On Nov. 6, domain registrar Tucows removed the site, saying it
breached the company's service agreement. 8kun is still offline.
Vaping turns deadly
Truthinitiative.org
Juul was a huge success, until it wasn't.
The vaping company, which sold vaping e-cigarettes that are sleek and look
almost like a USB-drive. It worked by converting liquid nicotine into vapor,
and is battery-operated.
The company marketed itself as helping "improve the lives of 1 billion adult
smokers by eliminating cigarettes." But it was quickly accused of targeting
teenagers with ads, effectively creating a new class of addicted customers.
Juul was surging in popularity, despite efforts to stop it. Even San
Francisco banned the sale of e-cigarettes in June. And the next month,
Facebook and Instagram began restricting e-cigarette ads.
Everything changed in August, when Illinois reported that a patient had died
after vaping. Soon, reports of respiratory illnesses in e-cigarette smokers
were rising, and more people started to die.
Though Juul wasn't the only e-cigarette maker, the Food and Drug
Administration called the company out for claiming its products were safer
than those from other companies.
By mid November, 42 people had died, according to the US Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention. And though President Trump initially said he'd
consider a ban on flavored vaping, he reversed those plans.
Juul meanwhile said earlier this month it plans to lay off 650 employees, or
about 16% of its workforce, as part of an effort to cut costs amid increased
regulatory pressure.
What a year. Want to learn more about tech controversies? Head over to our
Decade in Review series, where we cover all the biggest scandals of the
2010s. There were so many scandals, we split them into three parts. Part 1
focused on, among other things, Apple Maps, Netflix's price hikes and Edward
Snowden's revelations about the National Security Agency. Part 2 covered
GamerGate, Theranos and Samsung's Galaxy Note 7 fires. And part 3 talked
about Uber's fall from grace, the Equifax hack and #MeToo in Silicon Valley.
CNET's Dara Kerr, Richard Nieva, Eli Blumenthal and Michael Sorrentino
contributed to this report.
Original Article at:
https://www.cnet.com/news/facebook-amazon-and-samsung-2019-is-the-year-tech-
couldnt-stop-screwing-up/?ftag=CAD090e536&bhid=22694667381686839172315209628
767
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