The tech world never sits still, but it does occasionally change direction or even go backwards. It did that several times this year, many of which left the world worse off. Want to plug your headphones into a smartphone? Opportunities are dwindling. Want to read an online article without worrying about its veracity? Not so fast.
For the past few years, we've made a list of the things in the tech world we'd like to see go away in the coming year. Last year, our list included shady pre-installed software (nope), hoverboards (kinda), and major security breaches (lol, not even close). But a tech pub can dream. (For more, check out our roundup of the tech that did actually die in 2016.)
The thing about trends—tech or otherwise—is that you might be able to start one, but you can’t end one. They are a reflection of society’s needs and desires. Still, that doesn’t keep us from trying to dispatch a few trends every year that we think deserve to die. Here are our offerings to the tech grim reaper.
1. Online Harassment
Can Twitter finally get itself together and do something about all the trolls firing tweets with reckless abandon? And of course there's the YouTube comments section, a perennial thicket of abuse. To compound the problem, much of the most vitriolic trolling comes from bots, including pro-Donald Trump fake accounts that spent much of the 2016 US presidential election spreading lies. Trolls even transformed Microsoft’s artificial-intelligence-powered chatbot Tay into a racist monster that eventually had to be turned off. Here's to a 2017 filled with more civil online discourse.
2. Fake News
Whether or not you believe fake news influenced the 2016 US presidential election (Mark Zuckerberg does not), there's no denying that fake online articles and social media's role in spreading them entered the nation's consciousness this year (and Facebook is taking a few steps to combat it). But the man who fired a gun inside a Washington, D.C. pizzeria because of a fake story online suggesting it was part of a child sex ring is a stark reminder that fake news can have very real consequences.
3. An Insecure Internet of Things
One of the most crippling cyberattacks in the US occurred in September, when a vast network of infected baby monitors and other IoT devices took down a DNS provider, knocking dozens of major websites offline for a few hours, including Spotify and Twitter. The devices' lax security is as much to blame as the hackers who target them, according to security experts. There's not much you can do other than making sure you create a strong password for your next router or Wi-Fi baby camera.
4. Removing Useful Features From Devices
Apple and Samsung are the two big culprits here. The iPhone 7 is the first Apple phone without a headphone jack, to the delight of wireless headphone manufacturers and the consternation of nearly everyone who owns headphones. Meanwhile, an independent test suggests that Samsung removed so much protection around the battery of its Galaxy Note 7 that it left the components vulnerable to pressure, causing them to explode and catch fire. While we don't expect the headphone jack to return (indeed, Samsung appears to be following Apple's lead in removing it on the Galaxy S8), we at least hope that future phones will have enough padding for their batteries.
5. Shady Internet Access Schemes
Gogo will charge you $19 for a day's worth of inflight Wi-Fi if you buy in advance, but prices on the plane can creep past $30 for a single flight. Meanwhile, the service is often so slow that even the airlines themselves are complaining. And don't think things are much better on the ground: both Google and Verizon this year saw major setbacks in their promise to blanket the country with fiber-optic Internet cables. Even if you do have super-fast Internet access, you have a good chance of being overcharged (yes, multiple providers admitted to doing that this year) and bumping into data caps that are often just put in place to sell you more expensive tiers of data. Enough.
6. Insecure Websites
The unencrypted Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) needs to die. Major tech companies agree with us on this one, including Google, which next year plans to make it very obvious if you're visiting a website that hasn't yet switched over to the more secure HTTPS. Most commerce sites already use HTTPS to protect credit card information and other sensitive data, and even Netflix and Wikipedia are encrypted now. But other major sites like the New York Times are still encryption-free. We hope they take note of Google's plan to shame them.
7. Default Location Tracking
Apple's iOS gives app developers the power to decide how frequently they'll track your location. You, the smartphone owner, can always turn location tracking off completely, but it's up to the developer whether or not you see the option to only share your location when the app is running. Uber generated quite a bit of controversy this year when it announced it would track locations until five minutes after a ride ends. The privacy implications of letting dozens of apps track your location whenever they want to is worrisome, and we're all for giving device owners more control over how their location is shared.
8. Distracted AR Gaming
Don't get us wrong: augmented reality is a promising new horizon for the video game industry. The problem is that people frequently try to multitask when they shouldn't. Case in point: Pokemon Go. Following multiple reports of traffic accidents this past summer, some of which were fatal, the game's creator, Niantic, added a pop-up message that warns players when the app detects it's being used in a moving car. Texting while driving is illegal in most states, but no state bans all cell phone use for all drivers, so it's mostly up to AR gamers to police themselves. And then there's also the possibility that people will walk into lamp posts, fountains, and traffic. Stay safe out there.
9. Forced Windows Upgrades
Microsoft's months-long campaign to get people to upgrade to Windows 10 for free ended in July, but not before it irritated users with heavy-handed tactics like adding the new OS to a group of updates that would be installed automatically. The update saga even landed the company in court, with Microsoft paying a $10,000 settlement to a woman whose computer updated to Windows 10 against her will. We appreciate that the company offered Windows 10 for free, but that doesn't mean everyone wants or needs it.
10. Netflix and Amazon Reboot Duds
Streaming video services like Amazon and Netflix are upending Hollywood with their deep pockets and penchant for high-quality, original TV shows and movies. House of Cards, The Grand Tour, and Manchester by the Sea come to mind. But copious amounts of cash and executives who aren't shy about spending it occasionally result in some duds. Case in point: reboots of popular shows that originally appeared on network TV, like Full House and Gilmore Girls. They may have racked up viewers (initially), but these shows are probably not going to be taking home too many Emmys. All we'll say is that some things end for a reason and are best left without resurrection.
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
