Skip to Main Content
PCMag editors select and review products independently. If you buy through affiliate links, we may earn commissions, which help support our testing.

D’Oh! 12 Major Tech Fails of 2014

Even the biggest names faced challenges this year. Check out their most spectacular facepalms.

By Angela Moscaritolo
December 27, 2014
Top Tech Fails of 2014

Let's just focus on the positives for a moment. From Apple's record iPhone 6 sales to the growing effort to bring Internet access to non-connected areas, 2014 had a lot of moments for us techies to celebrate.

But not everything was such a success. There were some, shall we say, more … interesting moments this year, too. Must we remind you about the whole incident with Elon Musk's "D"? And how about Candy Crush-maker King Digital's disastrous IPO (the worst debut of the year)?

Even the biggest names faced challenges this year. There were massive security breaches, failed product launches, PR blunders, and more.

But fortunately for those on the fail list, screwing up isn't usually too big of a deal in the tech industry. Most of the time, if a product fails or an exec says the wrong thing, we forget about it quickly because there's just another fail right around the corner.

Meanwhile, at this point, the jury is still out on whether certain products and services – like the so-called "Facebook-killer" Ello, Blackberry Passport, and the Apple Watch – turn out to be fails. Let's keep our fingers crossed they don't wind up on this list next year. For now, check out the slideshow for a look back at the biggest tech gaffes of 2014.

1. Sony Pictures Hack

Sony Hack
The most devastating data breach of the year first made headlines in November, when Sony Pictures' employees had their PCs compromised and network shut down. The FBI has blamed North Korea, though the country has denied any involvement. A group called Guardians of Peace (GOP) has taken credit, and said they hacked Sony Pictures as revenge for The Interview, a film that depicts a plot to kill Kim Jong-un. After GOP threatened 9/11-style violence against theaters that showed The Interview, Sony scrapped the film's release altogether. That drew criticism from President Obama and movie-goers alike, and Sony this week reversed course.

2. Home Depot Breach

Home Depot Breach
Lots of companies were hacked this year, but Home Depot makes the fail list due to the sheer magnitude of its data breach. The home improvement chain in September acknowledged that attackers had compromised the point-of-sale terminals used at its self-checkout counters, and stole 56 million unique payment card numbers. Later, we found out the hackers also nabbed 53 million email addresses.

3. Nadella’s Comments About Women and Raises

Nadella’s Comments About Women and Raises
One takeaway from this whole scandal: You better watch what you say in public. Especially if you’re the CEO of one of the biggest and most influential tech firms in the world. Just take it from Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, who was asked in October – at a women’s conference – if he had any advice for women seeking pay raises. "It's not really about asking for the raise, but knowing and having faith that the system will actually give you the right raises as you go along,” he said, adding “That’s good Karma.” Nadella later said he was all wrong, issued an apology, and promised to make changes at Microsoft to promote diversity and inclusion.

4. Government Hacks

Government Hacks
Not even the U.S. government is immune to hackers. In November, the State Department was forced to shut down its entire unclassified email system amidst suspicions of a computer hack. That came around the same time the White House computer network was targeted. Not long before that, the U.S. Postal Service and National Weather Service also suffered attacks. Maybe it’s time to allocate more resources to cybersecurity? (Image)

5. iCloud Celebrity Nude Leak

iCloud Celebrity Nude Leak
Those leisurely perusing the Web on an otherwise quiet Sunday in late September likely noticed an influx of chatter about Jennifer Lawrence and other celebrities. The reason? A hacker dropped dozens of nude images of the stars online. So how did the hacker obtain all the nudes? There were reports that a hack of Apple's iCloud was to blame, but Cupertino said the incident was the result of a “very targeted attack on user names, passwords, and security questions” rather than a breach of its own systems.

6. Facebook Emotional Manipulation

Facebook Emotional Manipulation
Attach the words "emotional manipulation" to a practice that a company does, and people are going to feel a little incensed. Facebook learned that lesson the hard way this summer when it was revealed that the company manipulated around 600,000 users' news feeds to see how people might respond if they were given more negative or more positive posts to view for a solid week. The company never said sorry for the experiment but acknowledged that "there are things we should have done differently."

7. Sexist Computer-Engineer Barbie Book

Sexist Computer-Engineer Barbie Book
Barbie has had some impressive careers, but the one thing the perky blonde can't seem to do is computer engineering. Toymaker Mattel in November publicly apologized and pulled a four-year-old book that portrayed the beloved toy as dependent on the help of men to develop software. (Image)

8. Best Buy Black Friday Outage

Best Buy Black Friday Outage
Black Friday is basically the Super Bowl of retail, and this year Best Buy just wasn’t on its A-game. The day after Thanksgiving, BestBuy.com went offline and displayed a notice reading "We're Sorry, BestBuy.com currently unavailable. Check back soon.” Website outages do happen, of course, but on Black Friday any downtime for a huge retailer like Best Buy likely means millions down the toilet.

9. Apple U2 Debacle

Apple U2 Debacle
At its big iPhone 6 unveiling, Apple announced that all iTunes users would receive a free digital copy of "Songs of Innocence," U2's latest album. That seemed like a cool idea until it was discovered that Apple automatically placed the album into iTunes users' accounts. Naturally, this caused quite the stir; people weren't too keen on having content forced in their accounts without their consent.

10. Twitpic Shutdown

Twitpic Shutdown
The fact that Twitpic shut down wasn’t necessarily a fail in itself. But the disastrous way it shut down had us scratching our heads. First, in early September, the company announced plans to shut down over a trademark issue with Twitter. Days later, Twitpic said it was acquired by an unknown buyer and would be able to stay up and running. But the joy was only short lived; the deal quickly fell through and Twitpic was forced to shutter once and for all. (Image)

11. Apple ‘Gotofail’ Security Hole

Apple ‘Gotofail’ Security Hole
Apple devices are immune to security threats, right? Not so much. Apple in February was forced to issue an emergency update for OS X and iOS to fix a serious SSL security vulnerability that could have let an attacker on the same network as a victim eavesdrop on all user activity. Apple didn’t reveal too much information about the flaw, but experts who studied it said hackers could have launched so-called "man-in-the-middle" attacks to intercept messages as they passed from a user's device to trusted sites like Gmail, Facebook, or even online banking.

12. Steam Machines

Steam Machines
We were so excited about Steam Machines back in January, that we put together a whole slideshow of the cool ones we saw at CES. Fast forward 11 months, and not a single one of these fabled open-source gaming PCs have hit the market. In a May blog post, Valve Software announced that it was pushing back Steam Machines to "a release window of 2015, not 2014” so it could test the rigs with its wireless controller. So, stay tuned – but don’t hold your breath.

Get Our Best Stories!

Sign up for What's New Now to get our top stories delivered to your inbox every morning.

This newsletter may contain advertising, deals, or affiliate links. Subscribing to a newsletter indicates your consent to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. You may unsubscribe from the newsletters at any time.


Thanks for signing up!

Your subscription has been confirmed. Keep an eye on your inbox!

Sign up for other newsletters

TRENDING

About Angela Moscaritolo

Managing Editor, Consumer Electronics

I'm PCMag's managing editor for consumer electronics, overseeing an experienced team of analysts covering smart home, home entertainment, wearables, fitness and health tech, and various other product categories. I have been with PCMag for more than 10 years, and in that time have written more than 6,000 articles and reviews for the site. I previously served as an analyst focused on smart home and wearable devices, and before that I was a reporter covering consumer tech news. I'm also a yoga instructor, and have been actively teaching group and private classes for nearly a decade. 

Prior to joining PCMag, I was a reporter for SC Magazine, focusing on hackers and computer security. I earned a BS in journalism from West Virginia University, and started my career writing for newspapers in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia.

Read Angela's full bio

Read the latest from Angela Moscaritolo