howstuffworks _10 biggest tech headlines in 2012

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The year 2012 was jam-packed with news about technology. Pirates and Apples and lawsuits, oh my!iStockphoto/Thinkstock

10 Biggest Tech Headlines in 2012

by Jonathan Strickland

10 Biggest Tech Headlines in 2012

Keeping up with tech news is exhausting. It seems like

every day there's a major shift in a company's

executive structure or a new product hitting store

shelves. As Anthony Burgess's antihero from "A

Clockwork Orange" points out, things change so

quickly that everyone is forgets what's happening from

one day to the next.

That's where we come in. We've scoured the headlinesfor 2012 and collected 10 stories that captured our

attention throughout the year. We looked at product

releases and legislation related to the tech sector, and

cast our eyes toward space.

But in any list, some things will get left out. For

example, one huge news story that didn't get a lot of

coverage in the United States was about a power

blackout that happened in India in July 2012. More

than 700 million people were without power as utility

companies failed to meet the demand forelectricity

[source: Pidd].

Narrowing down the items in this list was tricky. These

stories had a big impact on the tech news cycle and

many of them are part of a bigger story of what is going on in the tech world in general. We've laid out the stories chronologically. Let's get started!

10: A Mega Raid

The year began with a rough start for digital locker site

Megaupload. The site allowed users to upload digital

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Megaupload founder Kim Dotcom spent nearly all of 2012 in courtrooms and litigation.Sandra Mu/Getty Images News/Getty Images

files in virtual lockers and share those files with others.

Files could be anything from pictures to documents to

media files. And that's where the trouble began.

Organizations like the Motion Picture Association of

America (MPAA) accused Megaupload of allowing -- or

even encouraging -- people to illegally sharecopyrighted material on the site. A user could take a

movie file, upload it to Megaupload and give free

access to anyone. The FBI and other law enforcement

agencies accused Megaupload of paying certain users

to upload illegal material. The files brought a lot of Web

traffic to the Megaupload site, which generated

revenue both from serving up ads on the site and

offering a subscription service that would give users

access to faster download speeds.

In January 2012, the FBI struck. In a coordinated raid,

the FBI shut down servers in the United States that

hosted Megaupload and, coordinated efforts with

police in New Zealand to raid the homes of some of

Megaupload's top employees. One of those was Kim Dotcom, founder of Megaupload. Law enforcement seized millions of dollars worth of equipment and goods,

including luxury cars and works of art.

Later in the year, a New Zealand court ruled that the raid on Kim Dotcom's estate was illegal [source: Anderson]. Further complicating the matter is the fact that Kim

Dotcom is a Dutch citizen living in New Zealand. The company itself is legally based in Hong Kong. The global nature of the case brings into question how far the

FBI's jurisdiction can stretch.

The ramifications of the raid are still playing out in courtrooms and on the Web, and there are many questions without answers. Did the FBI overstep its bounds in this

global operation? Should copyright holders be able to influence law enforcement activities to this extent? Is piracy such a problem that it requires operations like the

Megaupload raid? And does the raid solve any problems at all?

9: The Internet Goes Dark

It's indisputable that digital piracy exists. But almost

everything else about piracy is up for debate. How

widespread is the problem? How much damage does

piracy cause? What is the right way to address the


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SOPA and PIPA inspired protests both online and on the streets.Mario Tama/Getty Images News/Getty Images

issue? Depending upon whom you ask, you're bound

to receive very different answers from these questions.

Another indisputable fact is that institutions that

represent copyright holders have a great deal of

influence. Organizations like the Motion Picture

Association of America (MPAA) and the RecordingIndustry Association of America (RIAA) contribute

millions of dollars to political campaigns. These groups

have a vested interest in wiping out piracy. Some

politicians have attempted to follow through by

proposing legislation that would make it easier to

prosecute people for violating intellectual property.

Two such pieces of legislation were the Stop Online

Piracy Act (SOPA) and the Protect IP Act (PIPA). The

U.S. House of Representatives debated SOPA, while

the Senate considered PIPA. Both proposed pieces of

law aimed to curtail copyright infringement.

The laws would have given law enforcement agencies the authority to demand companies to remove foreign sites hosting illegal material from domain name servers.

This would make it difficult for anyone in America to access those sites. It's like blocking off a road -- people wouldn't be able to reach any businesses along that road.

Opponents to the legislation took to the Internet to protest and to inform people of the possible consequences should the legislation pass into law. On Jan. 18, 2012,

several sites participated in a SOPA-inspired blackout. Sites like Wikipedia and Reddit replaced their normal pages with information about SOPA and PIPA. Eventually,

both SOPA and PIPA faded from view as criticisms mounted and lawmakers withdrew their support for both measures.

Honorable Mention: The Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act (CISPA) also grabbed headlines in 2012. The purpose of the legislation was to increase

cybersecurity, but opponents said it would violate practically every privacy law on the books. The House of Representatives passed CISPA but it languished in the

Senate. Since then, senators proposed a different approach with the Cybersecurity Act of 2012.

8: Facebook Goes Public

ForFacebook, 2012 has been an eventful year. In

October, the site hit the impressive milestone of 1

billion active user accounts [source: Smith, Segall and

Cowley]. Earlier in the year, the social-networking

behemoth purchased Instagram, the mobile photo


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Facebook transformed from a privately-held company to one that is now publicly traded, but the transition hadsome problems.Courtesy Facebook

sharing service, for $1 billion. And way back in May,

Facebook launched its initial public offering (IPO),

becoming a publicly traded company.

Facebook didn't have much choice in the matter. In the

United States, the Securities and Exchange

Commission (SEC) has rules that establish when acompany must switch from privately owned to publicly

traded. In general, a company with several hundred

private shareholders and more than $10 million in

assets must transform into a publicly traded company

for regulatory reasons [source: Investopedia]. It was

only a matter of time before Facebook became a public

company.

The move was not without problems. According to

pending lawsuits against the company, Facebook and

Morgan Stanley, the chief underwriter for the IPO,

failed to warn the public of how mobile browsing would

impact Facebook's financials moving forward. Other lawsuits allege that Facebook and its IPO underwriters warned several significant investors of an adjusted

financial report that would impact the company's stock price in the short term, but failed to release this information to a wider audience of potential investors.

If true, this would mean that some people had access to extra information before Facebook's stock hit the market. It would also mean buyers might have paid too

much for stock simply because they didn't have access to that information.

Whether the allegations are true or not, the price for Facebook stock has seen a dip since opening at $38 per share. By mid-October, the stock price was worth less

than $20 per share [source: Google Finance].

7: A Windows Tablet Surfaces

In June, Microsoft made an announcement that

surprised the tech world. The company best known for

developing software was getting into the hardware

business with a new line of tablet devices. The name

for the new gadget was the Microsoft Surface.

The announcement revealed that there would be two

major versions of the Surface. One would contain an


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The Surface is Microsoft's official entry into the tablet market.Courtesy Microsoft

ARM-based microprocessor. These chips are

popular with mobile device manufacturers because of

their small size and high efficiency. They don't

consume as much power or generate as much heat as

larger, faster chips. The second type of Surface would

contain an Intel-based microprocessor. The

ARM-based version would run Windows RT, a lighter

version of the Windows 8 operating system found on

Intel-based devices.

Both categories of the Surface show off the touch-

screen interface supported by Windows 8. Later in the

year, the company announced pricing, whichput the

Surface in the same general market as the iPad.

Honorable Mention: In late October, Microsoft launched Windows 8, the latest iteration of its operating system. The new user interface was a marked departure from

previous versions of Windows. The new OS contained features for touch-screen interfaces while still supporting older input devices like the keyboard and mouse

combo. The goal was to have an operating system that worked across all manner of devices, from desktop computers to tablets.

6: A Particle Becomes Less Theoretical

Why does matter have mass? To some, this may seem

like a question Jack Handey would pose in his "Deep

Thoughts" series. But scientists and philosophers have

been pondering this question for years. Physicist Peter

Higgs theorized that a particle might be responsible for

imparting mass to other particles. We call this

theoretical particle the Higgs boson.

Proving the existence of the Higgs boson would mean

we'd have a more complete Standard Model of the

universe. It's one of the goals scientists at the Large

Hadron Collider (LHC), a particle accelerator, have

been working toward since the facility came online.

On July 4, 2012, news broke that experiments at the

LHC produced data that could indicate the Higgs

boson exists. Scientists tend to be cautious when


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A photo of the CMS detector at the Large Hadron Collider -- this enormous device looks for subatomic evidence ofwhat makes our universe tick.Sean Gallup/Getty Images News/Getty Images

Yahoo has a new CEO.Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

discussing revolutionary discoveries, and it may turn

out the particle they've detected is more complicated

than Higgs's theoretical particle.

Whether the particle fits the theory or gives us a new

set of questions to examine, we've entered an exciting

era of physics. We could be that much closer tounlocking the secrets of the universe.

Honorable Mention: While the discovery of a Higgs boson-like particle is big news in physics, the 2012 Nobel prize for Physics went to Serge Haroche and David

Wineland for their work in the field of quantum computing.

5: Marissa Mayer Becomes the New

Yahoo CEO

It's been a tough few years forYahoo. The company

has struggled to maintain its identity and relevance.

Over the last five years, Yahoo has had five different

chief executive officers. But there's hope that Marissa

Mayer, the latest person to helm Yahoo, will turn the

company around.

Mayer comes to Yahoo by way ofGoogle. She was

Google's 20th employee and had a hand in the

minimalist design of the search giant's home page.

She was also a key player in Google's search and local

products.

Reinvigorating Yahoo could be a challenge. The

company has had to weather a series of executive PR

problems, ranging from Yahoo founder Jerry Yang's

departure from the company to the revelation that

former CEO Scott Thompson fabricated items on his

corporate rsum. Revenue growth at Yahoo has

slowed to 1 percent year over year [source: Sloan].

And Yahoo's deal with Microsoft, in which Microsoft

provides the search engine technology for Yahoo, isn't

hitting revenue goals [source: Sullivan].


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NASA's Curiosity rover mission captured imaginations with a so-crazy-it-just-might-work landing plan.Courtesy NASA

It remains to be seen if Mayer can help Yahoo turn a corner and redefine itself as a powerful brand with growth potential.

4: Rocket Cranes and Curiosity

It was like something out of a science fiction film.

Scientists shot a rocket toward where Mars would be in

several months. On that rocket was a capsulecontaining a 1-ton (0.9-metric-ton) rover. The capsule

detached from the rocket and made its way to the

upper atmosphere of Mars. Then the really crazy stuff

happened.

After the capsules descent to Mars's surface slowed,

first by encountering the relatively thin atmosphere of

the red planet and then by deploying the largest

parachute ever built by NASA, the sky crane and

rocket boosters took over.

With rockets firing, the sky crane lowered the rover

down to the surface on cables. Just after the rover

touched down, the sky crane cables separated from

the rover and the crane flew off to crash a safe

distance away. And the entire procedure happened

automatically with no human control -- in fact, the rover

had been sitting on the planet's surface for several

minutes before we knew for sure that it had worked.

The landing was a marvel of science and engineering.And this was just the beginning of the mission! The rover has since begun to explore its surroundings and send data back to us about the conditions on Mars.

Honorable Mentions: It was a big year for space missions! In 2012, we also saw the successful launch of the SpaceX Dragon vehicle, which rendezvoused with the

International Space Station. A secondary mission to place a prototype communications satellite into orbit failed when safety parameters fell below NASA's criteria. And

in October, Felix Baumgartner broke several world records as he skydived from a balloon floating higher than 127,000 feet (38,710 meters), prompting many to refer to

his accomplishment as a space jump.

3: The Apple-Samsung Patent Kerfuffle

If you follow tech news, you've probably heard the term


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People line up outside the courtroom for the Apple-Samsung trials in the United States.Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

patent wars. Companies file or buy patents to protect a

particular invention, design or process. If Company A

infringes upon a patent by releasing a product with a

similar -- or even identical -- feature as can be found in

a patent belonging to Company B, Company B can sue

Company A.

That sounds simple enough, right? Reality tends to be

more complex. Companies may countersue each other

for various infractions. An accused company might try

to prove that the patented feature or product isn't an

original idea in an attempt to invalidate the patent.

Things can get pretty ugly.

That's the case between Apple and Samsung, two

major companies embroiled in a series of patent

disputes across the globe. Most of the legal battles

revolve around mobile devices in general and tablets in

particular. And to make things even more confusing,

the outcomes of the various lawsuits have contradicted

each other.

On Aug. 24, 2012, a U.S. court found in favor of Apple's claim that Samsung had infringed upon Apple's patents. The court ordered Samsung to pay Apple around

$1.05 billion in damages. A few months later, the court questioned if one of the patents that was central to the case was valid, which called into dispute the amount of

damages. Meanwhile, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) began to investigate Samsung for patenting designs that were necessary to comply with wireless

standards and not licensing the technology in a fair, non-discriminatory manner [source: Kendall].

In the U.K., a court found in favor of Samsung, saying the company did not infringe Apple's patents related to tablet designs. As part of the judgment, the court orderedApple to run advertisements in the U.K. that would clearly state Samsung had not copied Apple. Apple appealed the decision but the court decided to let it stand.

The battle continues to rage in other courts around the world, and it's clear we haven't heard the last of the spat between Apple and Samsung.

2: Google Gets a Driver's License

Getting your driver's license can be an experience

filled with anxiety, excitement and exhilaration if you're

human. But what if you're a robotic car?


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Larry Page, Sergey Brin and Eric Schmidt show off one of Google's driverless cars.Courtesy Google

On Sept. 25, 2012, California governor Jerry Brown

passed a law allowing test trials of autonomous cars

on California roads. Does that mean it's legal to buy a

robot car, hop in the back seat and tell your automaton

chauffeur to drop you off on Hollywood and Vine? Not

quite.

The law requires that a licensed driver be behind the

wheel of the car. It's a safety measure -- should a

system fail, the driver could take control of the vehicle

and get it off the road safely. The law applies to any

autonomous vehicle, but Google inspired the

legislation.

For the past few years, Google has been developing

technology that allows cars to navigate autonomously

over roads and highways. Google modified cars by

adding video cameras, laser rangefinders, GPS

receivers, a database filled with maps and a variety of

sensors. Taking control of one of these cars manually is a breeze -- just move the steering wheel a bit or tap on the brakes and you're the one driving the car.

We're probably still years away from a future in which everyone sits back while the vehicles do all the work. But this piece of legislation gets us a little closer to that

dream.

Honorable Mention: In 2012, Google announced a new line of tablets under the Nexus name. The tablets run on Google's mobile operating system called Android.

Google also announced the Nexus Q, a home entertainment device.

1: Apple Launches the iPad Mini

In the age of the Internet, it's hard to keep products a

secret. This is particularly true forApple, a company

that receives a healthy dose of scrutiny from tech

journalists and consumers on a daily basis. And with

supply chains stretching to countries overseas, there

are many places where a person might let a bit of

information leak about upcoming products. Such was

the case with the iPad Mini.


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The iPad Mini launched in late 2012 after nearly a year's worth of speculation about whether or not Apple wouldmarket a smaller tablet.CourtesyApple Inc.

By the time Apple officially announced the iPad Mini on

October 22, 2012, multiple tech blogs and news sites

had published rumored specs and designs based on

leaked information. Many of those rumors turned out to

be true. Like the full-sized iPad, the Mini has several

models. Storage ranges from 16 to 64 gigabytes,

depending upon the model. You can order one with

WiFi and cellular service or just WiFi.

Unlike the latest iPad models, the Mini doesn't have a

retina display. It also has a less powerful processor

than the current generation of iPads. It's larger than an

iPod Touch and smaller than a full-sized iPad with a

7.9-inch (20.1-centimeter) screen.

The iPad Mini is Apple's response to the 7-inch (17.8-centimeter) tablet market, which includes devices like Amazon's Kindle Fire tablet and Google's Nexus 7 tablet.

With the iPad Mini an official product, new questions arise. Will Apple dominate in the smaller tablet space the way it has with full-sized tablets? And how will the iPad

Mini affect iPad and iPod Touch sales figures?

Honorable Mention: Apple launched several products in 2012. In March, Apple unveiled the third-generation iPad. During the October 22 iPad Mini launch event,

Apple updated the iPad again with a fourth-generation model, upsetting some Apple customers who were upset that the previous version of the device had only been

on the market for a few months before the company rendered it obsolete. Other products launched in 2012 include the iPhone 5 and updates to the Macbook Pro and

Mac Mini computers.

Lots More Information

Author's Note

It's always interesting to look back over the course of a year and see which stories stand out. It's also hard to choose which news items to include. Other stories aboutcyberwarfare, spying, privacy issues and the ongoing WikiLeaks case were strong contenders. In the end, I picked stories I felt received the most attention from the

media or hinted at what the future of technology might be like.

Related Articles

How SOPA Works

Why do people pirate software?

Top 10 Myths About Apple

Top 5 Myths About Google, Inc


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10 Weirdest Headlines of 2011

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mars-rover-curiosity-sky-crane-landing.html


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http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07http://www.examiner.com/articlehttp://www.macworld.com/article/1164865/jerry_yang_leaves_yahoo.htmlhttp://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/jul/31/indiahttp://www.pcmag.com/article2http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-57520481-93http://gigaom.com/2012/01/19/megauploadhttp://www.theverge.com/2012/1/18/2715300/sopa-blackout-wikipedia-reddit-mozilla-google-protesthttp://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-57473243-93/googleshttp://money.cnn.com/2012/10/04/technology/facebook-billion-users/http://searchengineland.com/yahoo-microsoft-search-alliance-google-127843http://www.space.com/17923http://www.space.com/16889http://electronics.howstuffworks.com/everyday-tech/10-biggest-2012-tech-headlines.htm/prhttp://electronics.howstuffworks.com/everyday-tech/10-biggest-2012-tech-headlines.htm/prhttp://www.space.com/16889http://www.space.com/17923http://searchengineland.com/yahoo-microsoft-search-alliance-google-127843http://money.cnn.com/2012/10/04/technology/facebook-billion-users/http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-57473243-93/googleshttp://www.theverge.com/2012/1/18/2715300/sopa-blackout-wikipedia-reddit-mozilla-google-protesthttp://gigaom.com/2012/01/19/megauploadhttp://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-57520481-93http://www.pcmag.com/article2http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/jul/31/indiahttp://www.macworld.com/article/1164865/jerry_yang_leaves_yahoo.htmlhttp://www.examiner.com/articlehttp://www.nytimes.com/2012/07

howstuffworks _10 biggest tech headlines in 2012

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