The IT Nerd

As is typical at this time of year, here’s another one of those lists that reviews the last 12 months in terms of the highs, lows, and surprises. I think the difference will be that there is a different spin to this list this year. Let’s start the fun:

Most annoying tech trend (again): This one is a holdover from last year and the year before that. The patent lawsuit. With Apple and Samsung leading the way, you can fully expect this one to continue in to 2013 and beyond.

Biggest screw up: This has to go to Apple Maps. The attempt to dump Google Maps from the iPhone has proved to be a dismal failure with people getting lost while using it and Tim Cook having to apologize for how bad the product was (and still is seeing as they haven’t fixed it). Not to mention people being separated from their jobs over it. Oh well, at least Google came to the rescue with a mapping solution that works.

Most promising piece of tech: I had to think about this for a while, but I finally decided to give this one to RIM. After the BlackBerry 10 OS and associated hardware has been delayed over and over again, it’s due to be released at the end of January. We’ll see at that time if it gets them back into the game, or sends users (myself included) running for an iPhone 5.

Biggest failure to communicate: This one is a tie. Cisco for one for the way they handed the change of their terms of service of their cloud based services. Or Instagram for their handling of their change to their terms of service. I hope this isn’t a trend.

Biggest much ado about nothing: I didn’t cover this because I really didn’t see the point. But the nonsense that hit every newspaper on earth about Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer going back to work two weeks after giving birth wins this category hands down. Excuse me, but why is this news precisely?

The IT Nerd moves into cars: This year marked a bit of a change for me with car companies asking me to review their products. This year I posted reviews of the Ford Explorer, and the Dodge Grand Caravan. Expect more car reviews to come in 2013 as cars are just full of high tech goodies that will appeal to those who read this blog.

And now, the top five stories of the year:

• 1 Review: Foscam FI8910W Network Camera
• 2 So My Wife’s Journey To An iPhone 5 Hit A Snag Due To Rogers
• 3 How To Fix “The Disc Can’t Be Burned, Because The Device Failed To Calibrate The Laser Power Level For This Media” Error On Your Mac
• 4 I Hate Rogers…. I REALLY Hate Rogers
• 5 Installing iTunes 7.7 Also Installs MobileMe Control Panel Applet On Windows Machines Without Your Permission….. WTF?

I find a couple of things interesting. First is the fact that a camera review wins the number one spot. Clearly that camera is a model that people want. Second, Rogers is yet again on the top five list for the wrong reasons with two stories. At least that’s less than the three that they scored in 2010. That’s progress.

Here’s to 2013 as I think it will be a very interesting year in the tech world.

This entry was posted on December 31, 2012 at 1:31 pm and is filed under Commentary. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.