Monthly Archives: December 2011
Ted’s Take: The Top Tech Stories of 2011
We’ve discussed a lot of business on Talknowledgy, and certainly a lot of stories seem to come up week after week. A lot has changed in the technology world in 2011, and here’s MY take on the five biggest stories in tech and social media this year.
5. The PlayStation Network Outage
It feels so long ago, but this was a dominant topic on the show week over week, starting in mid-April. Sony’s entire online gaming network was attacked starting on the 17th of that month, prompting Sony to shut PSN down entirely on April 20th. By the time the dust had settled, the personal data of over 77 million PSN customers had been stolen, making it one of the biggest breaches of online security in history.
Sony went so far as to have its corporate executives to apologize in public for the break-in.
Sony offered a selection of free games for the PS3 and the PSP to its users as an apology. This may have satisfied some gamers, but sadly, the shareholders were not so happy. Sony’s shares have dropped pretty much month over month since April. They close in December at nearly half the value they had when the year started.
4. Google+
This isn’t just about the new social network, although that’s a major part of it. Google has gone to great lengths to ensure it retains top mindshare on the ‘Net. With the launch of their new social network in June, every Google website underwent an overhaul. Google has been working towards an entire, encapsulated, Google-fueled web, and Google+ is a big part of that.
Google+ came with the Google Bar, a black bar at the top of Google sites that provides quick, easy access to just about every service Google offers. This is all designed to keep you on their websites, using their services and, most importantly, seeing their ads.
Google+ as a social network started out very strong and grew quickly. In the six and a half months it’s been active to some level of the general public it’s gained 62 million users according to Google. They’ve improved their brand pages, added new functionality and the projections by Google say over 85 million users by next year.
To put that into perspective, it took Facebook over four years to hit 60 million active users. Of course, 2008 and 2011 are vastly different times online and by now Facebook has 800 million users, and it’s not being a slouch in terms of mindshare either, which brings me to…
3. Facebook
Facebook hit 700 million users earlier this year and it’s ending the year at 800 million users. They’ve maneuvered and bought and sold various properties. Facebook has taken the best parts of other social networks and brought them over. Google+ offered Hangouts, Facebook brings in its own video chat. They now let you subscribe, a kind of Twitter-like following of someone who allows it.
Not only that, but this was a year of talk about Facebook’s inevitable IPO. Talk has been circling the company for awhile now, but it heated up after a 450 million dollar cash injection by Goldman Sachs very early in January. Facebook didn’t make it’s initial public offering this year, but it has gone to great lengths to gain more and more financial clout.
The year closes on Timeline, and the talk of advertisements in the Facebook news feed. My prediction: Facebook hosted web search power by the end of 2012.
2. Tech Stocks Drop Overall
Some companies have had a good year. Many others have not been so lucky. I’ve already discussed Sony, whose shares have dropped by over 50% since January. A few other companies have similar stories.
Hewlett Packard has dropped month over month since February, peaking at about 49 dollars. They’re down to about 25 dollars now. WebOS tanked, they had to divest their tablets and handheld Palm devices, selling them for rock bottom prices. There was talk they were getting out of the PC manufacturing business; only to have an executive shuffle and release news they actually weren’t stopping their PC making endeavors. With so many people going mobile these days, it will be interesting to see where HP and the desktop PC go in 2012.
Nintendo is another company whose stock prices have been cut in half in 2011. Nintendo faced very poor sales of its new 3DS console in Japan, and subsequent poor sales in North America and Europe. Fearing another Virtual Boy incident, in which a system flops entirely, Nintendo quickly cut the retail price of the 3DS by 30% only four months after its release in North America. This is the biggest console price cut, so soon in a system’s lifespan in Nintendo’s history.
They appeased angry fans who bought full price 3DS models with an offering of 20 free games, 10 of which would be completely exclusive to early adopters. As with the PSN outage, gamers may have been happy, but shareholders were not.
Nintendo also announced a new home console, the Wii U, at E3 in June. This, too, caused some doubts in the minds of shareholders, and prices dropped 10 per cent in the two days since the press conference. Investors were doubtful of the strategy behind a large, tablet-like controller for a home console, fearing it to be too expensive for the target market of young families.
A slew of new software for the 3DS near the end of 2011 seems to have revitalized that system a bit, but will 2012 be kind to the Wii U? There’s no doubt being the first to release a new-generation console has its benefits, but Nintendo’s success with the Wii U depends almost entirely on its price point.
And, of course, this list would be nothing without mentioning RIM. The future looks grim for the little Canadian company that could. What hasn’t been said about RIM in the last few weeks on Talknowledgy? Shares are down, executives have been embarrassed, and the new hardware has been delayed. RIM is the third company on this list to give users free software, this time for the October Blackberry Outage, and predictably, shares didn’t budge in the right direction. (Those free apps are available until Saturday, by the way)
RIM will have to pull out all the stops in 2012 to break back into the big market. Android rules the roost in mobile market share and Windows Phone 7 is coming up quickly. I like to be an optimist, and I don’t think RIM is down for the count just yet, but the clock is ticking.
1. Apple
The biggest tech company in the world. The death of their founder and mogul. Some less than stellar product releases. Apple’s 2011 has been one of great success and great loss. Could anything else be expected of a giant like this?
Shares grew exponentially in June and July and they became the biggest, most valuable tech company in the world. During the U.S. debt crisis, it was joked many times that Apple’s overall value was more than the debt load of the entire country. A single company that could, in theory, wipe the debt of an entire nation.
Of course, great gains were joined by great losses. We saw the death of Steve Jobs, the founder and visionary who made Apple what it is today.
We saw the release of the iPad2 and the iPhone 4S, which didn’t meet consumer expectations nearly as well as they could have, but Apple keeps on truckin’.
But now, they approach 2012 in a familiar situation: Steve Jobs is no longer at the helm. The last time that happened, the company nearly went bankrupt. This time, Steve isn’t coming back.
Then again, this was before the iPod, before the MacBook and before the iPhone. It’ll take some major blunders, or an even stronger competitor, to knock Apple off the hill.
It’s amazing the difference a year can make in the world of technology and social media. I can’t wait for the 2012 review, just so I can look back at this one and laugh and laugh at what cavemen we were so long ago!
-Ted.
Gift Suggestions For The Techie In Your Life
If there’s a tech lover on your list, or you’ve got a significant other who doesn’t know much about this stuff, here’s the blog post for you!
For The Gamer
Gamers are notoriously fickle creatures and like to categorize themselves by the types of games they play, the location, and (most importantly) the device. Be absolutely certain that the recipient has the necessary equipment to use your gift and they should be a happy camper, but if they can’t use it then make sure they don’t open it or you could void the return policy (for example, software). That’s my generic, standard, former retail employee advice. But you’re here for gift suggestions!
If they’re someone who has an iPod Touch or iPhone, consider an iTunes gift card. If they do a lot of gaming on the go, or have lots of spare time and a passing interest in gaming, the small and typically budget-priced titles on the Apple App Store should hold their attention, and worse come to worse if they can’t find anything they like the money doesn’t expire and can be used for music as well. However, if you don’t like the gift card option and you know exactly what they want, you can actually gift specific apps as well.
If they’re more of a PC gamer, this is something you can do on Steam. (Steam is a free-to-use digital distribution service…basically, a store from which you can buy and gift video games while interacting with friends). Just remember with both of these, you can’t re-gift software you’ve already used. You may be asking yourself what the advantage is over simply buying it from a store. Essentially: pricing, availability, and the lack of waiting in a line.
The key thing to remember is there are a lot of titles out there and it can be easy to get sucked into buying something that isn’t very good or is not a good fit for the person on your list. A good place to start before you begin your shopping is Metacritic. They aggregate review scores on games (along with music, movies, and television shows) so you can see what people are saying before you buy and judge for yourself. And if it’s a young kid, keep in mind what he may want may not be what you want him playing!
For The Gadget Lover
You don’t have to know how to build a computer to impress the gadget lover this holiday season. Websites like Thinkgeek.com have great selections of puzzles, tools, and other stocking stuffers. Of course, if you don’t want to pay shipping or are looking to get it in within the next few days and are having trouble thinking of things they don’t already own, focus on improvements for gadgets they already have. Things like wireless mice or keyboards, a stand for their new tablet computer, a headset so they can hear what they’re doing (and no one else has to!), or a new controller for a video game console. That being said, I suggest steering away from internal computer parts since there can be compatibility issues or a lack of room to install it.
A major thing to take into consideration is that many department stores will take on large volumes of new products around this time of year, and most of them are junk. This is special holiday merchandise that only makes its way into these stores for about one full month of the year (mid December to mid January). Watch the brands you’re buying closely!
For The Rest
If the tech lover on your list is a bit of a nerd (and there’s nothing wrong with that!) they’ll likely appreciate something that shows it off like the always handy “No, I will Not Fix Your Computer” t-shirt. If your budget is a bit more in the high-end, e-readers are expected to be a hot holiday gift with Amazon’s Kindle leading the way (though chances are they’re eying a shiny tablet that offers a lot more functionality at (admittedly) a fair bit more price). Speaking of tablets, the iPad 2 along with the most recent iPod Touch and iPhone models will be very hot gifts this holiday season…tablets and smart phones are certainly a bit pricy, and signing someone up for a phone contract for Christmas is not recommended (it’s the gift that keeps on giving…you bills!), but if they haven’t joined the smart phone generation and aren’t planning on it (or are too young) the iPod Touch still makes a great gift.
Most tech fanatics try to make gift buying easy for their friends and family since technology can be tough to keep up with sometimes. But if you go out of your way and get just the right thing, they’ll appreciate the time and effort you put in.
Whatever it is you’re celebrating this time of year, I hope it’s a happy and safe one!
-PG
