With the new year just around the corner, we decided to take a look at some of the things that made 2011 memorable in the tech world. One thing is for sure – there was no lack of controversy.
The Bad
RIM
If you ever wanted to witness a company’s implosion, now is the time to watch. Although Rim has reported impressive growth in international expansion, its US market share is rapidly dwindling. Despite the fact that the company remains profitable, they have repeatedly missed sales goals and have yet to produce a solid product forecast, which has shareholders worried. In fact, consumer confidence is so low that RIM’s stock has dropped about 80% in the past year. Critics have hounded the company’s top management to step down, though RIM’s two (yes, TWO!) CEO’s will surely not go down without a fight.
The beginning of the end: http://www.theglobeandmail.com
Qwikster
Qwikster can be best described as a moment of insanity for CEO Reed Hastings (it happens to the best of us…?). Qwikster is of course the ugly sibling that resulted from the company’s decision to split Netflix into two separate companies/services; Netflix would remain to provide only streaming services, while Qwikster would step in to replace the DVD rental service. The two services would remain the same in terms of quality and cost, which left pretty much everyone asking: what’s the point?? As it turns out, Hastings himself couldn’t really justify the decision. A short three weeks after Qwikster was announced, Hastings made a public apology for his misgivings and nixed the project. This mistake came after a very poorly received price increase earlier this year, and in a matter of months, Netflix hemorrhaged 800,000 members. I guess this is proof that there ARE bad ideas in brainstorming.
Well, that was Qwik: http://blog.netflix.com
Kindle Fire
You may know Kindle Fire as Amazon’s latest effort to dethrone Apple’s popular iPad. Although Best Buy reports that the Kindle Fire has surpassed the iPad as the retailer’s top-selling tablet, the product’s first release left many feeling less than satisfied. Many consumers complained about bugs and security holes, including a lack of password locks and parental controls, which resulted in a slew of negative reviews on Amazon’s site. Amazon has since released a free software update that claims to address many of the user’s problems.
Conan O’Brien had the chance to embellish the product’s misgivings the way only Conan can: http://www.ibtimes.com/
Internet Ban in the Middle East
In an effort to retain power against the revolting Egyptian population, President Hosni Mubarak imposed a near-total communication blackout, which blocked information from going in to or out of Egypt at the beginning of this year. The Internet ban was in response to growing unrest and protests against Mubarak. Many rebels were using social media (including Twitter and Facebook), as well as text messaging to organize demonstrations. This may have slowed down the cause, but definitely didn’t stop it; after the blackout was instituted, people started using landlines to call friends and relatives outside of the US to relay protest news, which would then be tweeted on their behalf. The use of social media in these protests was astonishing to me and further proves how much the Internet has fundamentally changed the way we communicate.
The day the Internet died: http://nymag.com
Facebook Privacy (or lack thereof)
Despite Facebook’s ubiquity, critics and fans alike have always had a problem with the company’s privacy policy. It was a bit hard not to laugh when Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook’s fearless leader, had a series of private photographs revealed due to his own company’s security holes. One of the more recent controversies included Facebook’s addition of their facial recognition system, which uses technology to automatically identify your friends when you upload photos, and encourages you to tag them (without the person’s permission). Facebook was also heavily scrutinized for their Twitter-like timeline, which added a real-time stalker-like feed of your friend’s actions.
Check your privacy settings before your friends do: http://www.facebook.com
The Good
iCloud
The long-awaited October iOS 5 release also marked the birth of iCloud, Apple’s new syncing service (perhaps a mea culpa for the disastrous MobileMe?). iCloud allows you wirelessly store and access your content on various devices. The basic idea is similar to Dropbox, except that iCloud stores your content in the nebulous Internet ether, and allows you to access your content from any synced device at all times. In other words, your contacts, documents, photos, and music follow you and your devices wherever you go. Hooray for technology!
May the cloud be with you: http://www.apple.com/icloud/
Spotify
Spotify is a European-based music streaming service that made its way to the US (and our hearts) earlier this year. Spotify virtually eliminates the need to download music, allowing users to stream a large variety of music, free of charge. You can also make your own playlists, or utilize their “radio” feature, which plays a random selection of songs from music genres of your choosing. Premium users have the luxury of accessing music on their mobile devices. Spotify was first introduced as an invitation-only service, which created even more buzz. I won’t lie; I was pretty excited when I received my “special” invitation in my inbox. In a few months, habitual music downloaders and former GrooveShark users had already switched over without looking back.
Create your own account: http://www.spotify.com/us/
Path
If anyone has a chance to give Facebook (mobile, at least) a run for its money, it’s Path. Although I only recently discovered the free mobile app, the beautiful UI has me wondering what rock I’ve been under the rest of this year. Path is a self-described “smart journal” (or stalker tool, depending on how you look at it) that allows you to post your thoughts, share pictures and music, and check-in. The interface is simple, yet stunning and a breath of fresh air from Facebook’s mobile app.
Try it for yourself: https://path.com/
Flipboard
Although paper media seems to be dying out, don’t fret – it appears it’s being replaced by its superior digital doppelganger. Flipboard is, in its simplest form, a news aggregator. Users can choose which news outlets they’d like to receive feeds from, including social media like Facebook and Twitter. One of the most interesting features of the app is the interface, which mirrors the flipping motion used to read magazines. It takes a bit to get used to on the iPhone, since the flipping motion is vertical as opposed to the horizontal swiping I’ve grown accustomed to.
Download your own pocket-sized social magazine: http://flipboard.com/
Siri
“Siri, what are you wearing?”
No, that’s not the beginning of a bad dirty movie. Countless people no doubt started asking facetious questions similar to this after Siri was released with the iPhone 4S in October. Siri, of course, is Apple’s new built-in AI assistant. Simply speak into your phone and Siri will transcribe texts, make phone calls, schedule events/reminders and other cool things you would expect a digital assistant to do. If Siri can’t find the answer to your question within your phone, she will turn to the interwebs for help. If only she could cook and clean for me too…
Siri, what are you? http://www.apple.com/iphone/features/siri.html
Article by Dana Jung
Dana.
Introducing Mark, COG1′s Newest Design Unicorn
Innovative, confident, experienced, inspiring, and efficient – these are all qualities that a creative director should possess. Lucky for us, our brand new Creative Director/design unicorn Mark Junkunc is all of these things and more. Although you would never guess by looking at him; he’s incredibly sharp and equally humble, something you don’t usually see with people in his position.
Mark discovered his creative spark early on in life, when he started drawing as a young boy to express himself. His talent for illustration evolved into design, and he quickly became the art expert among his group of friends. It didn’t take long for Mark’s creativity to outgrow his Detroit surroundings, so he packed his bags and headed to The Art Institute of Colorado. Though he was able to strengthen his design chops in Denver, it didn’t take this design unicorn long to realize all of the opportunities that could be waiting for him in San Francisco. It was here that he found his tribe among the other street artists and musicians that inject so much life into this city.
With two solid years of experience as Art Director at HP and countless freelance projects under his belt, Mark’s presence at COG1 is truly a gift from the design gods (that rain dance we did must’ve worked). Mark finds constant inspiration from the collective consciousness that surrounds him and considers his transition to the COG1 family as a chance to collaborate with like-minded people. Although he has just arrived, it is clear that he has a passion to make an impact through design and technology (with Hacking for Homelessness next on his radar), and has big plans to take COG1 to the next level.
Well design unicorn, we’re up for the challenge.