If I had to pick a theme to sum up technology in 2018, it would be “bother me less.” From social networks that collect way too much data to websites that leak your password to the world to the annual circus of hardware updates that feel less and less worthy of your hard-earned cash, it feels like now, more than ever,…
As 2018 draws to a close, we bid adieu to many products and services in our beloved world of consumer technology. Some were old stalwarts that finally gave way to the passage of time. Others were short-lived trends, or ideas quickly abandoned. Here’s our look at this year’s greats and “not-so-greats”—those that passed into the history books or were sent straight to null.
We’ve got a look at social media fails, Google’s execution block, wearables, software, and a few other gems that left us in 2018.
ThinkstockSocial media is always a wasteland of detritus, as Facebook and Twitter ( mostly Facebook) continue to drag us slowly toward a surveillance state. Klout gave up trying on May 25, 2018, when owner Lithium Technologies shut down the site. Klout tried to add value to social media by ranking users with a numerical “Klout Score,” purportedly representing each person’s influence online.
The revelation this past week that Facebook has been sharing what you do on the site with other companies like Microsoft and Amazon has led a number of us to start considering (perhaps not for the first time) deleting Facebook and other apps owned by the company like Instagram and WhatsApp.
Sometimes it seems like our kids can already navigate technology better than we can. They have the advantage of growing up with tablets and laptops and smart phones at their disposal, while we remember how you used to have to press the #5 on our flip phones three times to get to the letter “L.” (It was annoying, even…
