KEY POINTS:
As I look over the feedback comments posted on the Herald website and hundreds of emails sent to me directly, it's easy to see what got people talking and typing in the world of technology this year.
Burst bubbles:
People are most compelled to voice their opinion when
something has gone wrong, the system has failed. One event that provoked a great deal of criticism this year was Telecom's botched transition to the YahooXtra Bubble email platform. The switch over commenced over a weekend in August, but by Sunday morning I was receiving emails from Xtramail users unable to access their email.
That little stuff up cost Telecom $7 million and a heap of bad PR and the situation wasn't helped when soon after, another outage hit Xtramail .
Around the same time the Skype free internet telephony service experienced an unprecedented global outage - no calls for Skype users full stop for at least 24 hours.
When Freeview launched in May, problems with the Zinwell set-top box (one of the two official ones selling in electronics stores) had viewers, including me, fuming.
One of my best read blog posts of the year was about a glitch that struck users of Sky's My Sky digital recorder. A software update managed to erase the contents of a number of Sky subscribers' recorders .
Likewise, a blog post about dodgy modems impacting broadband got a surprising response - it seems many Kiwis are using sub-standard equipment to access the internet and are paying the price in degraded broadband performance.
Bad advertising:
Electronics retailer Noel Leeming's decision to use Erin Brockovich in an advertising campaign this year turned out to be highly contentious, if the responses to a blog I did at the time are anything to go by.
Broadband:
Speaking of broadband, it was a red-hot topic this year. Interest is generally focused in two areas - how good the performance of the connection is, and how much it costs. A few benchmarks this year for the first time listed the ISPs in terms of performance.
Meanwhile, a fair amount of competitive activity gave broadband users plenty to chew on. Vodafone's "12 months free broadband" deal sparked the most interest.
Apple anything:
Anything about Apple, particularly the iPhone sparked huge reaction this year. People either love Apple with a passion or resent the success of the company and the media attention it gets.
I love the iPhone and I write about it a lot. But as I blogged earlier in the year, I'm annoyed that the recessed headphone jack on the phone means I can't use my high-quality headphones with it. Apple fans thought differently - check out the responses to the blog to get a sense of the devotion some people have to all things Apple.
Tribute should be paid to my constant reader James, who has sent me dozens of emails linking to Apple stories around the web. Apple should send James an iPod Touch or something. He's done more PR for Apple this year than Apple has itself.
Hi-def dramas:
High definition was another popular topic this year, even if the technology failed to take off. Early adopters of hi-def technology supplied me with a steady trickle of emails outlining their headaches with the HDCP (content protection) built into hi-def connections and devices.
Cabinetisation:
Yes the above word crept into tech stories (but never headlines) late in the year and despite that, people seemed to understand what it meant - moving fibre optic cables closer to your home so you can get better broadband.
Ditching CDMA
Telecom's decision this year to build a GSM network, which will ultimately replace the CDMA network it currently uses, was well received. People just appreciate the better handset and roaming options GSM gives them.
Mobile roaming:
Both Telecom and Vodafone released new mobile roaming schemes this year, reigniting debate around this hot topic. The consensus: making calls and using mobile data abroad is still far too expensive.
IT salaries:
New Zealand companies are crying out for skilled IT workers, but it became obvious this year that they're not willing to offer competitive salaries to secure top talent. A survey by IDC, commissioned by Microsoft also predicted a boom in IT job growth in the next few years, something I can't see happening if current trends continue . I've been shocked at some of the stories outlined in emails sent to me by skilled IT workers who have either had difficulty finding work here or are forced to work for bad pay.
Using keywords, I searched the emails I received from Herald readers through the year and these were the top 10 results:
Telecom, Apple, Google, Vista, broadband, DRM, Playstation 3, HD, Firefox, Vodafone.
