Tech's biggest flops and gaffes in 2014 (pictures)

Remember Google's barges -- the mysterious vessels made of dozens of shipping containers? The first to be brought to light, by CNET, initially bobbed alongside Treasure Island in the middle of San FranciscoBay. A second was then discovered in the harbor in Portland, Maine. The crafts captivated the tech world, spurring speculation about their purpose. Were they futuristic data centers? Floating retail outlets?

Alas, despite Google's revelation that the barges were set to become mobile showcases for new technology, the San Francisco vessel was, early this year, moved without fanfare 80miles east to Stockton, Calif. The Portland craft was dismantled and its shipping containers sent to the scrap heap. The reason: the Coast Guard determined the barges presented fire and other safety hazards.

An anticlimactic end to something that garnered somuch interest, and to a project that was reportedly budgeted at tens of millions of dollars.

Let'sbe honest: Did any smartwatch live up to the hype this year? After a fewintriguing early attempts in 2013, this year was supposed to be the one in which smartwatches took hold. Google got into it seriously with its Android Wearsoftware, designed specifically for wearable devices.

Samsung, Motorola, LG and Sony, among others, released whatfelt like a constant barrage of smartwatches in the hope of wowing consumers.

Butthe same problems persisted: bulky watches, disappointing battery life and clunkysoftware. Nothing out there reallyjustifies a purchase.

It's telling that with all the moves Google made, CNET editor Scott Stein's favorite smartwatch remains the non-Google Pebble Steel, which debuted in January.

Maybeone of these companies will get it right in 2015. And there's always the AppleWatch, which comes out next year.

Tobe fair, Isis Mobile Wallet had its nationwide launch inNovember 2013.But it's a testament to the weak consumer awareness generated by the system that the other ISIS -- the Islamic State of Iraqand Syria -- became the ISIS.

Notwanting to be associated with a militant group, Isis Mobile Wallet scrapped its name in July, going namelessbefore rebranding itself as Softcardin September.

Brandingaside, the bigger threat may be ApplePay. Since Apple's own mobile-payment system launched in October, people havebeen talking about using their smartphones to handle payment transactions -- somethingfew people did with Isis/Softcard.

Thisyear marked version 2.0 of Microsoft's campaign to sell its next-generationXbox One game console. One of the key features of the system, the motion-sensorKinect, was jettisoned to lower the price to $400. The Xbox One's price has more recently fallen even lower, to $350, with many retailers offering free games bundled with the system.

Whatwas once positioned as critical to the Xbox experience suddenly became expendable.It's easy to see why consumers' response to the new Kinect (which can be purchased a la carte) has been, shall wesay, lukewarm.

Nowmost of Microsoft's investment in Xbox One Kinect will likely be scrapped asconsumers opt for the cheaper Kinect-less version of the Xbox One.

Aereo seems to have gone off the air.

The company used anetwork of mini-antennas to grab over-the-air TV signals (without paying broadcasters any fees) and let customers stream them to Net-connected devices for a low monthly price. But it ran into a buzz saw knownas the Supreme Court, which deemed the serviceillegal. Thedecision was a win for the broadcasters, including CBS, the parent company ofCNET, and rang Aereo's death knell.

The company took another hit in October when a USDistrict court granted broadcasters'request for a preliminary injunction against the service. Then last week, after months of "not dead yet" declarations, Aereo filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, acknowledging that it had exhausted its viable routes to keep operating after the Supreme Court ruling.

There'scompetition, and then there are dirty tactics. Lyft in August claimed employeesof rival ride-sharing service Uber bookedand then canceled thousands of rides over the previous nine months, a move Lyft claimed was part of a ploy to hire away drivers. Uber called theallegations "patently false."

Thetrouble is, car app Gett made similar allegations against Uber, saying Uber used a "denial ofservice"-type attack to recruit drivers. In that instance, Uber said itstactics were "likely too aggressive."

Uberdidn’t help its image when an executive in November said the company mightspend $1 million on a plan to discredit journalists writing stories Uber didn'tlike. Uber CEO Travis Kalanick said remarks by executive Emil Michael "showeda lack of leadership, a lack of humanity and a departure from our values andideals." Still, Michael continues to be an Uber employee because Kalanick feels "folks who make mistakes can learn from them."

Lesson learned: don’t talk about a plan todiscredit journalists at a dinner-meeting with journalists.

Samsungand Intel's operating system, Tizen, was supposed to provide carriers with asmartphone they could customize and call their own. It was supposed to be ahigh-end operating system. And it was supposed to debut early this year.

Noneof that happened.

Theonly whiff we got of Tizen was in Samsung's smartwatches, which haven't exactlybeen hot sellers. At Mobile World Congress in March, the Tizen Associationattempted to shift its strategy to capitalize on the notion that the softwarecould power smart TVs, among other devices.

Thelong-delayed operating system couldfinally make its debut next month, but as a platform for low-endsmartphones.

Facebookgot into some hot water after disclosing a study that manipulateda select group of its users' emotions by tweaking the items in their newsfeed. The study affected 689,003 users and 3 million posts.

Thedisclosure reignited the ongoing debate about privacy and just what Facebookdoes with your data.

Itwas capped off by Facebook Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg'snon-apology apology. "So we clearly communicated really badlyabout this, and that we really regret," Sandberg toldtheIndian television station NDTV while in New Delhi.

Clearly.

It'sdebatable what GamerGate really stands for. Opinions range from an effort to expose bias in gamingjournalism to a pushback against critics who question the portrayal of women invideo games. But what's clear-cut is the vile, ugly harassment that’s become ahallmark of the movement.

Feministmedia critic Anita Sarkeesian (pictured above) pulled out of a speakingengagement at Utah State University because an anonymous email threatened "thedeadliest school shooting in American history" if she didn't cancel herspeech. Independent game developer Brianna Wu was driven from her home afterreceiving threats and having her address posted online. Zoe Quinn, thedeveloper at the center of GamerGate, also had her information leaked and wasforced to leave her home.

Thegaming industry is starting to pay attention. Mike Morhaime, head ofActivision's Blizzard Entertainment unit, said the harassment was "tarnishing our reputation asgamers."Adobe outright said it doesn’t stand withGamerGate.

Welearned this year to be afraid, very afraid for our personal data. The numberswere staggering.

JPMorganChase revealed in October that 76 million households and 7million small businesses had been compromised in a data breach, much larger than previouslyestimated.

HomeDepot said in November that 53 millionemails, inaddition to 56 million credit card numbers, had been stolen by hackers.

Andif you were one of the unfortunate people who used a third-party backup servicefor Snapchatphotos and videos -- chances are your messages were exposed to the public.Snapchat was less than sympathetic, saying those users had no one to blame butthemselves for relying on sketchy services.

Itwas another banner year for Apple, which continued to see its iPhone dominatethe smartphone business even as rival Samsung stumbled. But the company wasn'twithout its own embarrassments.

Speaking of security issues, themost high-profile snafu was the theft of nude photos of celebrities, including actress JenniferLawrence and model Kate Upton, which were said to have been taken from the celebrities' private iCloudaccounts. Apple denied that poor security architecture led to the image leak but conceded it could have done more to warn customers of the danger of hackers. It bolstered iCloud's security alerts toward that end.

Thenthere was the iOS 8.0.1 upgrade for the iPhone and iPad. Originally intended tofix errors in iOS 8, it presented its own, much larger problems, including kicking the iPhone offcellular networks and disabling the TouchID fingerprint sensor. To its credit, Apple had arelatively quick fix out with iOS 8.0.2. Then iOS 8.1 came out and brought back the beloved "Camera Roll" folder in the Photos app.

Otherimage blotches this year included a publicspat between Apple sapphire-glass supplier GT Advanced, which blamed itsbankruptcy on Apple's practices; the backlash from Apple forcing U2's latestalbum, "Songs of Innocence," onto your iTunes listwhether you wanted it or not; and the quasicontroversyof "Bendgate" and the supposedly bendable iPhone 6Plus. (Applesaid only nine customers had complained about the issue.)

On the plus side, Apple CEO Tim Cook took astrong stand on diversity, revealing in public for the first time that he’sgay. “If hearing that the CEO of Apple is gay can helpsomeone struggling to come to terms with who he or she is, or bring comfort toanyone who feels alone, or inspire people to insist on their equality, thenit’s worth the trade-off with my own privacy."

Forthe most part, new Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella has had a strong early run. Thecompany seems to be moving briskly toward his new strategy of software andservices, and even the Surface tablet is starting to pick up steam.

ButNadella walked into a minefield when he suggested that women intechnology shouldn't ask for raises, but should instead trust in the system (whichtoday underpays women relative to their male peers) to take care of them. "It's notreally about asking for the raise but knowing and having faith that the systemwill actually give you the right raises as you go along," he said.

The worst part: He said it at the Grace HopperCelebration of Women in Computing.

Nadella soon backtracked on the remarks, sayinghe was inarticulate about his comments. A day later, he said he was flat-out wrong.

That didn't stop the criticism, and he spent a goodchunk of October defending himself and his views on women and technology. Thetakeaway for women working at Microsoft: ask for a raise. The boss islistening.

Rememberthe Fire Phone? It's OK if you don't. You’renot alone.

Amazon'sfirst smartphone debuted with a fair bit of buzz. It had a supportive carrierpartner in AT&T, which promised a big marketing push. It also had twofeatures that helped the Fire Phone stand out: four front-facing cameras to helpdisplay 3D images and a Firefly object recognition app to scan bar codes andother data from real-world items, making it easier for you to buy them fromAmazon.com

Butas Facebook discovered a year ago with its own failed phone, slapping awell-known brand on a device doesn't guarantee success. The Fire Phone runs analtered version of Android that doesn't support key Google apps like GoogleMaps or Gmail. AT&T's marketing push faded quickly, and the phone fell to 99 cents (with a contract) after twomonths.

Thosestandout features? Customers didn't seem to care.

Amazonhas acknowledged it missed the mark with pricing. Where Amazon's Kindle Fire tablets won afollowing with their low price, consumers were less than wowed by the FirePhone's $200 price tag with contract. Maybe Amazon will have better luck withthe next version.

Correction, 1:20 p.m. PT: This story misstated the numberof cameras the Fire Phone uses to display 3D images. Amazon's Fire Phone has four motion-tracking cameras to support Dynamic Perspective, as well as an additional front-facing camera and rear-facing camera for photos.

Thereare flameouts and then there’s former RadiumOne CEO Gurbaksh Chahal.

Thelittle-known startup made headlines in the worst possible way when Chahal wasarrested and convicted of battery and domestic violence after hitting hisgirlfriend 117 times in a 30-minute attack. He initially tweeted that he wasinnocent and blamed the media for its one-sided coverage, before deleting thosetweets.

Itwas clear he had to go, but Chahal didn't goquietly. In his letter to the board, he said he was"deeply disappointed" by the decision of the directors, and claimedhe was wrongfully terminated.

Thedrama didn't end there. CNET uncovered another RadiumOneemployeewho was living and working under a fake identity. You can't make this stuff up.

New RadiumOne CEO Bill Lonergan acknowledged the drama but said it was over by June. He added that the company didn't lose any major customers, and the second quarter was the best quarter in the company's history.