Top 10 biggest tech 'fails' of 2010

CNN make the list of  top10 biggest tech 'fails' of 2010. So here are the top "tech fails" of the year.

• iPhone 4 'Antennagate'

Apple drama -- nothing brings out the diehard fans and Cupertino haters quite like this one. First Apple said the problem didn't exist. Then they said it was a software issue. Then they kind-of admitted it existed and gave away free cases to help. Then, they said it doesn't really exist anymore and stopped giving away the bumpers. Months later, the problem is all but forgotten and the phones show no sign of dipping in popularity. So "fail," in this case, is a pretty relative term.

• 3-D TV

Three-dimension movies may have taken over your neighborhood multiplex. But how many people do you know who will pay $4,000 or more for a TV that has a limited amount of special content and makes you wear special glasses in the comfort of your own home?

• Microsoft Kin

We almost don't have the heart to beat up on the Kins anymore.

Having already served up the short-lived, tween-centric phones in our Thanksgiving all-time tech turkey list, we'll just remind you that the Kin One and Kin Two (Born: April 2010. Died: July 2010) aimed to be the fun, social smartphone for kids but ended up as a sort-of iPhone Lite, with a pricier data plan than their limited functions could justify.

• Nexus One

Google's Android phone operating system came into its own in 2010, actually outselling phones running Apple's system by the end of the year.
But Google might have gone wrong by originally selling the phone only online. Apparently, folks like to get their hands on their gadgets before paying for them.

• Facebook privacy

On April 21, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced a new Facebook feature called the "Open Graph," which essentially brings Facebook-like functionality to a number of websites.

A few folks actually left on a protester-created "Quit Facebook Day." Most didn't, but the sustained anger led Facebook to eventually simplify its privacy controls and roll out some new ones.

• Google Buzz

Buzz was supposed to be Google's entry into the world of social networking in much the same way that Google Wave, which Google killed in August, was supposed to revolutionize real-time communication.

• Gawker media sites hacked

Two fails here, really.

Fail No. 1: Gawker Media sites were breached in early December, with hackers saying they got access to the user names and passwords for about 1.3 million users of sites such as Gizmodo, Jezebel, Lifehacker and Kotaku.

Fail No. 2: A published list of the most-popular passwords hacked showed that "123456," "password," "12345" and "qwerty" were at or near the top of the list.

Sorry, folks. If those are your passwords, it's awfully tough to feel sorry for you getting hacked.

• Content Farm

Creating click-bait junk on the internet didn't start in 2010. But it certainly took off in a big way.

Demand Media, Aol's Seed and Associated Content, bought this year by Yahoo!, operate on a similar "content farm" model: They choose topics people are searching for on the internet, pay a "journalist" a tiny amount to write something -- anything -- about it, then slap it on the Web so people will click on it.

• Digg relaunch

It's impressive that content-sharing sites such as Digg have clung to some degree of relevancy in an era when most people share their favorite digital content on Facebook and Twitter.
But, to be sure, they've struggled. And a revolt by some vocal members of Digg this summer didn't help. The site got a major overhaul to make it easier for users to find content.

• iTunes Ping

There's a whole social network set up in Apple's iTunes store now. Didn't know that? Well, there you go.
Not all musical artists are on there. And it doesn't integrate with Facebook. (Although Ping and Twitter just linked up). And, a lot of the time, it simply pushes you to buy music. Needless to say, Ping hasn't really caught on.