It was a big year for technology: Twitter and Facebook’s popularity exploded, while new smartphones, e-readers and a host of other gadgets cropped up to compete for our plugged-in affection.

But into each electronic life a little digital rain must fall.

We polled a handful of the most tech-savvy folks we know for their thoughts on the worst moments in technology from 2009 — the most epic “fails” of the year.

And now, in no particular order, our 2009 Tech Fails …

Y2-what? Zune gets off to a bad start

Technically it was a New Year’s Eve surprise. But many owners of Microsoft’s Zune media player started 2009 with little more than a paperweight with LED lights.

At midnight on December 31, all Zune’s 30-GB MP3 players froze up. Microsoft explained the problem as a problem with the way the device’s internal clock recognized (or didn’t recognize) leap years.

The glitch only lasted a day, but didn’t help a device that was already failing to gain ground on Apple’s iPod.

TwitterPeek fails to pique interest

The reaction of many in the tech community to the release of the TwitterPeek device was a collective, “Huh?”

Sure, there are some people who don’t have smartphones and don’t want to pay for expensive mobile plans. But is there really a market for a $199 device that does nothing but let you manage your Twitter feed?

“I already have a $200 device to update Twitter,” said one techie we spoke to. “It’s called my iPhone.”

The folks at Peek, makers of TwitterPeek, had already made the Pronto — a device that handled only texts and e-mails. Maybe a combination of the two gadgets is in the works. But even then, would enough people be interested? Probably not.

Facebook backtracks on owning your stuff

OK … so every time Facebook makes even the most minute changes, it sparks an outcry among its 350 million members, not to mention (irony alert) dozens of new Facebook groups geared at making the site change back.

But a terms-of-service change in February went further, implying that Facebook owned the rights to anything users uploaded to the site. Another change suggested that Facebook held those rights forever, even if people quit the site or took the material down.

Facebook responded that it simply needed those rights to be able to post information to other users. But when the backlash continued, the site eventually switched the terms back to their former wording.

Sidekick punts user info

In what one observer called “an almost incomprehensible data disaster,” T-Mobile told users in October that a server error at a Microsoft subsidiary had lost users‘ personal data it had stored for the devices.

All of it.

Phone numbers, contact lists, calendars and other information was gone — and even new data would disappear if users turned off or recharged the phone.

Users were offered free service and rebates in the wake of the mess, as T-Mobile scrambled to recover what little of the data it could. But that didn’t stop the lawsuits, Internet griping and ill will generated by the snafu.

Hacking Twitter

It started as a story about someone hacking the accounts of several Twitter employees. Then, after Twitter said the attack was limited to personal information, not sensitive, company-related stuff, the hacker behind the attack struck again — in a different way.

He sent 310 documents to leading technology blog TechCrunch. The blog published a small portion of them and sent the documents to Twitter, which is when the company learned that they included financial projections and notes from high-level executive meetings.

Twitter responded by reportedly closing the security holes that allowed the attack.

Enough with the updates, already!

This was the year that online social media exploded. That’s good news for the future of Facebook, Twitter and the like.

But sometimes it just got to be a bit too much.

Members of Congress abandoned any pretense of paying attention to President Obama’s State of the Union speech by updating their Twitter feeds as he was speaking.

There was the groom who updated his Facebook relationship status at the altar. And the women who tweeted during childbirth. [In fairness, the most high-profile tweeting new mom was Sara Williams, wife of Twitter CEO Evan Williams].

And that’s not even mentioning all those friend requests you got from your grade-school teachers and members of your mom’s knitting circle.

Hyped-up Conficker fails

This is a failure we’re glad to report.

The Conficker worm was, by all accounts, a serious bit of malware that infected as many as 10 million computers worldwide. Instead of attacking those computers, it was designed to control them, paving the way for later attacks.

When researchers spotted the date April 1 in the worm’s coding, speculation began mounting that a major April Fools’ Day attack was on its way. Instead, it was mostly quiet — a false alarm of Y2K proportions.

“I think the joke’s on us a little bit, which you would have expected, having an April 1 date,” Holly Stewart, threat response manager for IBM’s X-Force, a computer security service, said at the time.

Attacks cripple Twitter, Facebook

On August 6, the concept of computer addiction didn’t seem so silly.

A massive denial-of-service attack hit Twitter, Facebook and the LiveJournal blogging site. Twitter was by far the hardest hit, completely blacking out for several hours.

The attacks were believed to have targeted a blogger in the country of Georgia who had been critical of Russia. The attacks, the blogger said, coincided with the one-year anniversary of renewed violence between the two countries.

What was telling was how freaked out people became. Users described feeling naked, jittery and upset without the ability to post on Twitter. When the site came back up, the top topic of conversation was the hashtag for “When Twitter Was Down.”

Gmail crashes

We heard some different views on this year’s string of outages or slowdowns of Google’s popular e-mail system.

Some thought coverage was overblown.

But as more computing power moves “into the cloud,” people and businesses are relying on programs like Gmail not just for e-mails, but to archive documents, chat with friends or co-workers and store contact information.

Gmail went through several high-profile crashes in 2009, including one in February and two in September. While e-mail crashes are nothing new to any provider, 2009’s were the first since Google begain offering offline support.

Response to the crashes simultaneously showed how many people depend on Gmail and how easy it is to make fun of those people. Social-networking blog Mashable responded with a list of five things to do while Gmail is down (No. 1: “Immediately flood Twitter with tweets alternately proclaiming, ‘Gmail is down!’ and inquiring, ‘Is Gmail down?’ “)

I got Google Wave — now what?

OK, so it’s a little early in the game to call this one a total fail. But after the breathless anticipation that greeted Google Wave and the hot rush to get an invitation for its beta testing, lots of users found themselves asking, “OK … now what?”

Google, for its part, released an 80-minute tutorial video — leading some observers to argue that if you need an hour and 20 minutes to explain what your product does, you might be in trouble.

It’s designed as a platform to allow users to communicate and collaborate in real time — a tool some predict will be used effectively by developers in the future.

But for now, it’s inspired the creation of a Web site — Easier to Understand Than Wave — on which users compare the online tool to other sometimes obtuse subjects (Both Ozzy Osbourne and the geopolitical climate of Southeast Asia are easier to understand than Wave, users voted, while Sarah Palin and Scientology are both more difficult).

www.cnn.com

A small Missouri company with the word “Bing” in its name has sued Microsoft for branding its search engine with the same word, alleging trademark infringement and unfair competition by the software giant.

Bing Information Design filed the case in a St. Louis circuit court this week, seeking damages including corrective advertising paid for by Microsoft to eliminate confusion between the brands, the company’s law firm said in a statement on Thursday.

The design company, which offers computer-related illustrations and other services, has used the name Bing since 2000 and applied to register the trademark “Bing!” on May 26, according to U.S. Patent and Trademark Office records. The USPTO initially refused the application on Aug. 25, giving the company six months to file supporting information.

Microsoft filed its application for the trademark “Bing” (without the exclamation mark) on March 2.

Microsoft’s use of the name Bing and its aggressive advertising have “gutted” efforts by the small design company to distinguish itself, the statement said. Bing.biz, a Web site linked to in the statement, showed sample graphics from the company and gave the job titles of its two principals as “overlord-in-chief” and “the brains behind the operation.”

Microsoft has not been served with a complaint but is aware of the lawsuit based on media reports, a Microsoft spokesman said in an e-mail.

“We believe this suit to be without merit and we do not believe there is any confusion in the marketplace with regard to the complainant’s offerings and Microsoft’s Bing product,” the spokesman said.

Microsoft launched its Bing search engine earlier this year as a revamp of its Microsoft Live Search service.

www.computerworld.com

We reported that Google would be replacing Russian search leader Yandex as the default search engine and ad server on Mail.ru, the most popular online destination in the country with more than 50 million unique monthly users.

This morning, Mail.ru confirmed (in Russian) that it will be replacing Yandex with Google as its default search provider starting January 2010.

The company noted that Mountain View will indeed refrain from branding the search engine with the Google name and logo like it usually does.

Mail.ru has an estimated 10% search share in Russia, behind Google with 23%, but both pale in comparison to leader Yandex, which takes up no less than 58% of the market. By replacing Yandex as default search engine on the Mail.ru portal, Google will grow its share to over one third of the market.

Google will also be powering the contextual advertising part of the equation for Mail.ru, in a country where its size is estimated at around $400 million.

The agreement reportedly spans 1 year, and the terms stipulate that Mail.ru will receive a 60 percent share of revenues from ad clicks (which is more than Mail.ru currently receives from Yandex).

Mail.ru already worked with Google for search and ads from 2003 to 2005.

www.techcrunch.com

Marketers  continue to reallocate spend from traditional media into online. 83% of marketers increased online advertising spend during 2009 with 94% planning to increase in 2010. Audience targeting and cost efficiencies identified as drivers of online growth. Mobile advertising spend rising rapidly with format beginning to fulfil its potential  as the  ‘one to watch’.

EIAA research released today reveals that marketers across Europe continue to embrace the power of online during a year of recession due to its ability to maximise limited budgets. 83% of all marketers surveyed stated that online advertising spend during 2009 has been greater than in 2008 and the medium looks to go from strength to strength (94% expect growth in online in 2010 and 93% in 2011).

Targeting and cost efficiencies reign in tough times

Mobile is a rising star

Reallocation of traditional advertising budgets

A Russian Internet group, Digital Sky Technologies, has offered to invest $200 million in Facebook in a deal that would value the social networking site at $10 billion.

“Facebook is a private company, so as a matter of policy, we don’t typically share details about our financial plans or comment on rumor and speculation,” the company said in a statement.

Russia’s Digital Sky Technologies was not immediately available to comment on the report.

Facebook Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg told the Reuters Global Technology Summit this week that, “If there’s an investment to be done on very good terms, we will consider it if for no other reason than to have more buffer if we want to do something in the future.”

“Some of the rumblings that people are reporting on, are just different conversations that have happened, but there’s really nothing new to talk about there,” he added.

Digital Sky Technologies, which owns a stake in Russia’s Mail.ru Web site, offered an investment of $200 million in the company’s preferred stock, which would value it at $10 billion, and an additional $100 million to $150 million investment in the company’s common stock, which would value it at $6.5 billion, the report said.

Facebook last got funding from Microsoft Corp in 2007, when the software company paid $240 million for a 1.6 percent stake in the company.

Facebook has more than 200 million active users, double the number it had last August. The company also ranks as one of the top photo-sharing websites, with more than 15 billion pictures uploaded onto its service.

www.reuters.com

Work most sites was restored only by the end of the day.

According to the press service of the Rambler, the cause of the malfunction was the problem with the power of the Moscow data center, located on East Street 10.

The first – about three hours later – reopened news site Lenta.ru. September 2 this portal celebrate ten years. After a little more time, users were able to get to the Rambler, but it was impossible to use any search engine itself, or additional services, including e-mail.

Spokesman Rambler Marina Anisimova confirmed the occurrence of a malfunction of resources and explained that it was caused by a temporary lack of electricity in the data center. Yesterday the company also reported that the night will be held all the necessary remedial work.

Also recently, on Sept. 1, a major fault in the survivors and the postal service, the company Google - Gmail. The fact that the mailboxes to Gmail available in various network services reported millions of users around the world. This e-mail service was blocked for access by web interface, and through various client programs. According to representatives of Google, failure occurred due to faulty personnel of the company, which turned off a number of Gmail’s servers for the usual updates. Other servers were overloaded.

2074.ru, CNews

«UAIR plays an important role in bringing together participants and establish common standards for measuring online advertising market. The company Google, are actively working in Ukraine can not remain aloof from these processes and will be glad to take part in the activities of the Association », – said Dmitry Sholomko, a spokesman for Google in Ukraine.

«Ukrainian Internet advertising of interest to foreign companies. Also they are interested in conducting research of our audience and establishing criteria for the work market, which continues to grow, despite the unfavorable situation in the economy », – said Andrey Zablotsky, head UAIR.

ko-online.com.ua

Yandex shareholders, in effect, shift the paper from one pocket to another. Small shareholders concede their bags – a major. The main owners – Runet Holdings, Baring Vostok Capital Partners, UFG Asset Management and Tiger Technologies. That is, they claim to increase its stake. Confirmed Mikhail Ushakov, Head of Press Service Yandex.

20% belong to minority Yandex – so managers and other small shareholders. The company claims that tops Yandex – General and Technical Director – Arkady Volozh and Ilya Segalovich sell their securities are not collected. Perhaps the sellers are the founders of the company – the Dutch Ben Cole and John Boyton. They have a 30% stake. It is possible that they are now in need of liquidity, said the head of media Pynes & Moerner, Roman Tyshkovsky.

“As is now really IPO postponed for quite a long period of time, it becomes clear that very soon the people who worked the last 7.8 years in Yandex, are unlikely to realize the auction in a short time. Therefore, some of them are likely to address now realize their package within the company

The main revenue Yandex receives from contextual advertising. Last year the company was particularly successful: the number of advertisers has increased by 50%, revenue has tripled, reaching more than 300-hundred million dollars. Now an advertiser is actively developing the Internet space. And investment in the virtual resources, especially given the crisis the discount, are particularly relevant. A year ago, Yandex is estimated at 3-5 billion dollars. Now the price is not more than half. For the buyer a 10% stake would cost 150 million dollars. But this is only the assumption of analysts. In reality, it is impossible to estimate Yandex, said General Director of “Mediamir” Mikhail Gurevich.

“Company” Yandex “- not a public company. Therefore, they are cheaper or more expensive than the market determines, but a negotiation process within the company. In general, it is understandable that they are cheaper than they would cost, after the company and the IPO went out at the exchange, but at all until the price of their conventional and, accordingly, their liquidity is the result of negotiation rather than open in the market ”
According to experts, online resources will be able to quickly restore the pre-crisis positions. Purchased shares are now in a couple of years went by half.

radio.businessfm.ru