Top-10 Technology Disappointments in 2006

[WGruener]

You have read our article (http://www.tgdaily.com/2006/12/11/tgd_top_10_2006_disappointments/) on what we believe were the most significant technology disappointments of 2006.

Do you agree? What do you think was most disappointing in 2006? Particpate in the poll below!

We are looking forward to your comments!

 

[djkrypplephite]

I think it would be a combo of the PS3 and DRM. PS3 is so weak, and DRM just plain sucks. I'd also throw in the Optimus keyboard.

 

[mpjesse]

I voted for IE7. They spent how many years developing it...? Seriously, aside from tabbed browsing (which is avail. on IE6), there's not a big difference. I guess we're supposed to be sold on its dashing good looks. WMP11 is complete crap too. It's slower than WMP10 and a lot of my videos look worse!

I knew Sony was going to be a disappointment. However, I did think the PSP would sell better this year. It really is a technological marvel and very, very well designed. It also has some great titles and very un-sony like flexibility. All around it's a great device. I'll take it over a PS3 any day.

The thing affected me the most this year was DRM/HDCP. I finally got digital cable and I can't use the HDMI out port because it's HDCPized. My HDTV does not support HDCP. So I'm stuck using crappy component cables. Oh and good luck trying to find a list of HDCP compatible displays (both on PC and home theater)! I actually sought out HDCP compatible diplays for my new PC... but it was all in vain. Hardly any are made! And the models that are don't explicitly say so.

Anyways, damn fine list and article mate. You hit the nail on the head with just about everything!

 

[FloKid]

Personaly I think zooooone is nothing compared to ipod cause u have to press the arrows to search (it's for the twich xgen)!! And I don't know who scratches who but my ipod is in perfect shape after dropping it millions of times!!! just a few drools on it ;p (yeas I sleep on it too) .The new design should have replacable bats and flash mem, design could be like um... not telling. Haven't got PS3 but I think if you can play SoulCalibur 2 and 3 on it then it's good to go. Wii games look so simple that I think N64 could play them, but metroid looks pretty coo. XBOx360 is um dunno don't have that eather but i don't like the games for it that they showed in the store. HALO 3 could be good if it could be played with Nunchack Controllers for Wii but it will never happen cause of legal issues ya know. And what is wrong with the new quad core Xeon it's slower than the dual core?!?!? Otherwize I can't think of anymore techs maybe cellphones but I am not in to them, they don't have nuff Memory.

Happy hOly days. All I ask Santa is for Wii and Metroid 3: Corruption.

 

[JMecc]

HDTV and iPod are 2 of a very short list of tech products that were actually BETTER that I had imagined when I first tried them. Wow, wow, wow how sweet are these and how utterly crappy do other portable music players and non-hdtv seem once you have had the good stuff. I just don't see any way to complain about these and put them on the disappointments list.

Wireless-N - no kidding; holy man wireless internet technology sucks! It has become the bane of my techie existence.

SONY - following up crappy games with good graphics by making even better graphics for crappy games is just terrible. Watch a real live action movie if you want good graphics. Scooped badly by competitor Nintendo who goes on making great games that are fun to play for both hardcores and casual gamers. The graphics are cartoony but the games are fun! Would the classic game monopoly be better with photo-realistic graphics showing your hat moving ahead with its feather floating in the wind while bullets fly by (of course having to wait for this to load)? If you answered yes, go for the PS3 but I'll sure not be joining you for a game. I'm also recommending away from Sony for personal electronics due to their proprietary memory stick that won't fit in to your PDA / laptop... anything Sony. Get with the program and use SD like everyone else. I once got Sony stuff - discman, digital camera, tv, both my monitors... but no more sony for me.

Jo

 

[tpi2007]

Hello to all! It is the first time I post something, as I have just registered.

I voted for the DRM, as it simply seems like too complicated and disregards consumers.

If I buy a regular CD or a DVD from a store I can play it in any cd player and dvd player, I can bring one to my friends house and we all sit in the living room and watch a movie there.

With DRM however I will probably have to fill in a form to request authorization to do this! DRM protect content simply ignores reality, and this year we saw how unreasonable it is.


On the other hand the Broadband scenario in the US surprised me. I live in Europe (Portugal) and we have just reached 24mbps ADSL2 speeds


(It seems like in the US you talk about DSL, which just means the upload speed is equal do the download speed. The "A" in Adsl means it is Asymetric, the download speed is much bigger than the upload speed, but for the regular consumer, this doesn't matter that much. For example 24mbps speed here relates to the download speed, upload may only be 1mbps).

The regular subscribers like me have just been upgraded from 4mbps to 8mbps! 1mbps on the other hand is now almost entry-level.

Cheers,

tpi2007

 

[Tattysnuc]

I'm surprised to see Apple's Ipod in the list: The product was more of the same, but fundamentally, it still worked.

My biggest dissappointment was 3d physics cards. I mean, really what was the point!!!!

 

[geralt]

What about Vista?

 

[Kelkins]

I voted for Broadband as it absolutely ridiculous in its speed vs. price. Here in the USA 768kps is considered broadband hard to believe we went from the worlds greatest telephone system ATT to the crap we have today.

 

[Thunderfox]

Why are Viiv and Live even mentioned here? I've heard so little buzz about them that I can't really imagine anybody being excited about them.

Was anybody really expecting these things to set the world on fire?

 

[Doughbuy]

Meh, not being able to develop a revolutionary browser isin't exactly a negative, it's not a positive. IE7 may not seem like it's worth the 5 years of work, but seriously, how important did you think MS deemed a new IE to be until FireFox was out and whipping it's butt. IE7 is nice, I like it, and it works fine for me. Any upgrade is better than no upgrade at all...

DRM.. meh, I stay away from it. All I have to say there...

HDTV's... yeah, they're hella complicated, but I like to feel smart when I explain it to others. However, I stay away from them also, at least until SED TV's come out and there's a greater range of choices. Prices however, have never been cheaper, even though they might not live up to the hype. Best thing to do here is wait for a better standard.

Apple... same ol same ol... nothing good, nothing bad.

Sony, Sony, Sony... I don't even know where to begin. So much smack we can talk about them, and it's all justified. Hopefully next year will be better for them, or I fear one of the great electronic powerhouses disappearing, would be a sad day...

802.11n... not touching that until IEEE ratifies it...

 

[torque79]

you made some excellent choices. I also agree with the other person about physics cards being a huge useless product, which I am sure would be ranking up there, but probably not in the top 10 due to its small market.

I had a very hard time choosing my vote. I eventually went with Broadband because it really pissed me off this year when my ISP increased the cost of their top broadband speed product (6mbit download, 1mbit upload), and moved their second tier product up to 5mbit download, 500k upload, for the same price as the previous top tier. I always loved cable internet because it always had better upload speed even from early iterations, than adsl. It would seem that ISP's now wish to discourage you from actually utilizing the bandwidth you are paying for. In a continent where the expansion and improvement of high-speed is behind most of the rest of the world, this is insane.

I am also 100% agreed on Sony, DRM, HDTV and 802.11n. I would now actually rather buy an inferior product than buy anything Sony (for so many reasons, but generally I just hate the company). DRM has gone over the deep end, and in combination with HDTV have totally prevented consumers from being able to enjoy their HD content in a convenient and AFFORDABLE way. Once 100% of cable television is digital only, I'd better be able to buy a tv-in video card and simply plug in my coax cable and watch/record paid for HD content. If not, I will cancel my cable subscription because I have seen the cable boxes which come with Rogers and they are CRAP.

If all content is heading for HD, why do cable companies charge more for those channels? Why should I pay extra until everybody gets with the program and brodcasts HD content only? Will I still have to pay extra then, when it is standard? It is currently only partially available, and heading towards being the standard definition, so should it not be at LEAST free, if not rebated because it is only partially available?

I'm already paying for the bandwidth coming accross the cable via my internet connection! Stream all television via the internet and get rid of these rediculous antiquated methods of broadcast distribution. Put network ports in TV's and some secure authentication ability, now I have television, VOIP and internet all coming from one coaxial wire.

Then move on to broadband over power lines, and even eliminate coaxial and telephone wire from your home. What's taking so long? I don't want all this junk hardware in the way.

 

[k61824]

Vista is simply too new to have the public to see how screwed (or good) it is.

As for Sony, I think it is a good thing that thier failures are all within a short time frame, maybe that's how they manage to make any money.

Here is the new iPod slogan Apple should use from now on in order to sell their crap: "100 million buyers can't be wrong"

Seriously, They should have Steve Jobs as the foreign minister or UN ambassdor for the US. With this guy's marketing skills to market the US, World peace will be a bit closer to reality. [Imagine what this guys can't sell when he managed to sell 100 million of this]

And there is the DRM... well, given that the pirated stuff has no DRM (or get circumvented), ever sophisticated DRMs will simply discourage the consumers to actually buy them (at least if they have no DRM it's a tradeoff between your time and money)

 

[Loc13]

As much as I love Sony's products in general and my 20GB PS3, I still voted for Sony. The launch was disappointing, and all those PS3s sold on eBay is just ridiculous. Many people saw what happened to xbox360 last year and tried to take advantage of it, so partly I blame the eBay situation on MS lol. The lack of upscaler really sucked for a lot of people who had older HDTV. And the lack of unified online community and playstation store content hurt the launch as well, but hopefully future firmware will fix these issues.

But to be honest, PS3 is an engineering masterpiece. It runs very very quiet and never gets hot, at most warm. The blu-ray player quality is arguably the best compared to stand-alone blu-ray players according to tech reviews.. The option to install linux OS, ability to upgrade the hard drive without voiding the warranty, compatiblity with USB keyboards, mouse, and the newest update allows usb PS2 accessories to work with PS3 is a great plus. The potential is definitely there.

Broadband in the United States is very very far behind comparing to Japan or South Korea, where they have 100mbps lines. Comcast is the biggest ripoff ever, charging $60 for a 6mbps line in Hartford, CT. I'm glad I decided not to move there and got Cox's 15mbps for only$50. I really don't like how there's only 1 cable company in each area, it's like a monopoly to me. If I move to Hartford, I have to choose Comcast, or if i move to Manchester, I have to use Cox.

 

[PeterHighlander]

I voted Broadband, however I would like to point out something that is true in Eastern PA.

The big company isn't the issue, it's the "small protected" company who's territory is regulated or newly de-regulated 2-3 years ago.

Verizon offers a great price point at $15/$29.
At least you have a $15 option for lower BW.
Epix DSL, provided by Commonwealth $39.99 for "1.5" actually 1.2 Mbps!
The 3Mbps product is $42.99 but you have to be with 3 miles of the CO.

I've reported Epix to the BBB and their official response is, "We think it's competitive".

Anyone else feel like calling their Broadband provider and registering some complaints?

 

[shawmanus]

I agree with most of the choices. Some of them like 802.n does not matter as its a mass market failure. Also hdtv cannot be considered a failure as we can buy one for as low as $300. 1080P or 2160P etc does not matter as we do not have any broadcasts at that resolution. Also blu-ray is too expensive to justify 1080P TV.

Broadband Internet has stagnated in US and its monopoly for all cable companies. We need WiMAX or other similar technologies so that customers have more choices. Currently if live in appt u cannot have FIOS, Dry DSL is too slow and phone providers do not advertise them at all.

I cannot consider IPod as a failure bcos Apple released only 5.5 and not a new version. Adding Gapless play back was good and they brought the price down. Zune was forced to launch at 249 bcos of ipod. I bought zen vision m bcos it supports more formats.

 

[HotFoot]

I had to vote for Sony. Like the author stated, there were just too many things going wrong. Individually, I would be less displeased with Sony's battery fiasco than I am with DRM for ostracising customers. However, the root kit deal has had a lasting impression on me. Sony deliberately put my computer at risk? No thanks. In general, I've just lost any "trust" in the company (foolish to trust any company, they're not people after all).

The general feeling I've gotten from big companies telling you what you have to do with your own hardware or legitimately purchased entertainment content has spurred me to avoid buying anything with the Sony badge (sad, because I've liked their DVD burners) and to move over to more open-source software projects. I now use Linux for everything that doesn't require Windows just because I'm in control of what happens on my computer.

 

[7H4_D00D3]

I wont vote on this one cuz it'll be unfair...pretty much all of them suck hard..

The ipod: well, it could be better, but it's not so bad that it has to be put on that list, hell, I want one...

IE7: no thanx I like my firefox...

HDTV: I don't have the money to buy one so I dont give a damn about them...

viiv/live: pointless......

802.11n: dont have wireless stuff so, again I dont give a damn

Zune: I'd rather get an Ipod

Broadband: don't be such a sissies, I'm running on a 512kbps DSL connection, here the minimum (besides dial up ) is 384kbps and until xmas 05 I was on a 33.6kbps external US Robotics modem (only to switch to 49.2kbps internal modem til march when I got broadband), thoug I agree on the "America lagging in tech stuff"

DRM:
http://www.machall.com/index.php?strip_id=146
http://www.machall.com/index.php?strip_id=147
http://www.machall.com/index.php?strip_id=148
I know it's not the same, but xD (and also messes with sony)

UMPC: nah, I'd rather get a laptop

Sony: is that japanese for "masochist"?

 

[woodchuk]

HDTV's... yeah, they're hella complicated, but I like to feel smart when I explain it to others. However, I stay away from them also, at least until SED TV's come out and there's a greater range of choices. Prices however, have never been cheaper, even though they might not live up to the hype. Best thing to do here is wait for a better standard.

Don't think HDTV is the same market as PC's, people tend to keep their TV longer than they upgrade other stuff. The market takes a lot of study, but waiting until the tech clears up and the prices go down is like waiting to buy your first computer...don't hold your breath, it's a dynamic living breathing thing but my personal delight at 1080i every day is something like the first computer, absolutely facinating.

 

[samir_nayanajaad]

Man i gotta say dsl was quite the bummer for me. why you ask, its simple I CANT GET IT!!! Well i could get sat internet but yeah several hundred bucks for equipment then 50 bucks a month i dont think so.

Oh and one more lovely thing i read, I think on toms, internet 2 is never planned on being publicly available, jeez thanks guys for keeping America further behind the rest of the world.

 

[infornography42]

Lets see.
Ipod
Not really disappointed because there was nothing new I was expecting.

IE7
I don't use IE... I haven't used IE for years... I have no intention of using IE again. Just having a desktop icon to it I consider to be a huge security risk (because of other people who might be tempted to use it).

HDTV
Meh, its a developing field. I long for the simple days where a TV was a TV was a TV and they all worked at the same resolution more or less, but I don't think we will see those days again for a long long time, if ever. I also do not see much of a need for it.

Viiv and Live
In my view, Viiv is just an extension of DRM which I hate with a passion that burns hotter than the sun.

802.11n
Premature, will get better, currently sold to people with more dollars than sense.

Zune
Couldn't care less. I can't afford to have an mp3 player attached to me in my job. (teaching)

broadband
This is just a travesty, plain and simple. There is no excuse for this short of corporate greed and stagnation.

DRM
Three little letters that anger me more than Sony and Microsoft combined, mainly because both of them feed my larger hatred of DRM. The fact that out of the last 6 video games I have purchased, half of them did not run at all on my computer until after I cracked them is nothing short of insanity. The fact that I need to find what is probably technically illegal software to bypass the copy protection so I can just use what I have rightfully purchased is lunacy of the highest order and I have begun to shun any software that forces me into that situation again. There is now starting a new revolution to eliminate DRM and I call for ALL to endorse it. THQ games lately have come 100% DRM free as well as some legitimate music downloads. Stardock is a company heading up the charge with their Galactic Civilizations games. HATE HATE HATE DRM.... Betcha can't guess how I voted ;-)

umpc
Meh, Doomed little PC replacements. Too little functionality for too much money. Can't imagine why anyone was ever excited about them.

Sony
Ahh Sony. One of my favorite companies.... to HATE. Really, every time I turned around there was Sony screwing up something else. They are at the forefront of the DRM charge and one of the largest culprits in the spread of that vile disease. I hold a faint but present hope that this coming year will see them destroyed as everything they did in the past year and a half falls apart and fails utterly.



On a side note, I agree about the PhysX processor being a huge disappointment. Early price quotes sounded downright reasonable, but when it came out it did too little for the price tag associated with it. Ageia was the little company that could but it failed.

Vista is another side note. I've gone from wary, to interested, to excited, to wary, to downright fearful. Too expensive, too power hungry, too proprietary, and too DRM laden. I am NOT looking forward to its release.

 

[gm0n3y]

I agree with pretty much all of thing on the list, but I have to vote for DRM. It was the one thing that is actually a major step BACKWARDS from the status quo. Two or three years ago, the digital music scene was much better than it is today, simply because DRM has turned most people off of online music purchasing. That being said, I think we are starting to see a changing of ideas at some of the major music labels in regards to DRM.

 

[dmacfour]

I wasn't a big fan of the PS3 to begin with, and what I've seen in stores backs that up. to begin with, the PS3 suffers from overheating problems, so most places I go have nonfunctioning PS3s. The graphis are cool, but when I watched motor storm, I noticed that it suffered from horrible frame rates. I don't think It's worth the $600/$9,000 people are willing to pay. It doen't even have rumble. I'd rather buy a nice processor.

 

[3lfk1ng]

I think it would be a combo of the PS3 and DRM. PS3 is so weak, and DRM just plain sucks. I'd also throw in the Optimus keyboard.

Don't forget Zune....and I agree with everything you said

 

[gm0n3y]

I forgot to mention that I would have added AMD's 4x4 (now QuadFX) to the list. Then again, most people probably didn't even hear about it and the enthusiasts like me already knew it was going to suck before it even came out. Still, I for one was really hoping that AMD would come out with a contender for Intel before the end of the year.