I’ve told the story of my 1992 spring break trip countless times because it’s an epic story of a stupid mistake. Basically it goes something like this: Near the end of my trip I wanted a souvenir not everyone had. In my foggy daze I noticed a fluorescent vest in the distance that wasn’t Daytona honky-tonk trinket.
As I approached the vest I sized up the person wearing it and decided to make my move. I wrapped my arms around the person and dragged him to the ground. After a few seconds of struggle I ended up in a paddy wagon and eventually jail. I woke up in a holding cell and left Florida covered in black and blues with no money because my friends had to post bail.
We all make mistakes and technology companies are no different. It seems like this year more epic and unusual mistakes have leaked than in years prior. I’ve assembled my list of top blunders ranging from the obvious to some you may not have known about.
Everyone’s familiar with the NSA collaborating with Verizon. But I’ve talked to a bunch of people who didn’t know the NSA created a virus to spy on allies. Antivirus software started picking up the viruses (as heuristics) shortly after their creation. It’s hard to believe our government can’t create the perfect virus.
Facebook went a bit overboard this year collecting data on just about everyone including non-users. Not only did Facebook collect personal data, but it also exploited the data and leaked it to just about everyone. Missing the boat over a few people isn’t a bad thing but this impacted about six million people who may not have wanted their information shared.
I was excited to visit the Obamacare website and sign up for health insurance. That is, I was excited until I got to the site. I navigated the site for an hour waiting for a response before I finally gave up. As many experienced, the site crashed repeatedly and I couldn’t enter any information. Apparently the site is currently up and running and the deadline has been extended.
Tesla, an American electric car manufacturer, received a biased review by the New York Times earlier this year. The Times claimed the car had a horrible battery life which cost Tesla a sizable loss in sales. After Tesla countered the article with data from the car’s computer, it was the New York Times that eventually fell on its sword and admitted a partial review.
Even Microsoft blunders occasionally. This was supposed to be the year Windows 8 took the world by storm with a cross-platform operating system. Phone, tablet, and computer sales were so lackluster that Microsoft wrote off nearly $1 billion in inventory. In a last ditch effort to make the tiled operating system palatable, Microsoft just released the 8.1 update which includes a mock start button.
Harbor Freight Company, a very large online and brick and mortar discount tool retailer was breached earlier this year. Crooks who penetrated the Harbor Freight computer system gained access to more than 400 stores worth of customer credit card information. Not only was this the biggest breach in 2013, but it was the largest in recent history affecting millions of their customers.
Technology blunders and fails happen all the time and like anything else it’s a way to gain experience and learn from mistakes. Due to the nature of technology, almost all the major blunders involve some type of information transfer. It’s always hard to imagine where we would be without technology and the information it transfers; almost as hard as wondering how my life would have been different had I been able to wrestle off the police officer’s florescent vest.
(Jeromy Patriquin is the President of Laptop & Computer Repair, Inc. located at 509 Main St. in Gardner. You can text him directly at (978) 413-2840 or visit www.LocalComputerWiz.com.)