The Biggest Tech Failures and Successes of 2017

Let’s face it: Technology this year was one big “fail” after another. And the biggest loser from all of this was you.

It’s easy to count the ways that tech did you wrong, especially when it came to information security. On the other hand, there was also plenty of good technology this year that worked well and offered benefits for your money.

If you need a New Year’s resolution, you might consider boycotting Uber.

To be clear, Uber’s failures have more to do with the company and its work culture than the app you are familiar with. The ride-hailing startup was a scandal magnet this year. After Uber employees aired complaints about sexual harassment, the company did an internal investigation and fired 20 people. The New York Times also reported that the company had used a secret program, code-named Greyball, to monitor and evade law enforcement officials.

It didn’t end there. Waymo, the self-driving car unit of Google’s parent company, Alphabet, sued Uber, accusing it of stealing trade secrets. In addition, Uber recently disclosed that hackers stole 57 million driver and rider accounts in October 2016 — after keeping the breach secret for more than a year.

Travis Kalanick resigned as the company’s chief executive amid a shareholder revolt. Uber’s new chief, Dara Khosrowshahi, now faces the tall order of repairing the company’s reputation.

An initial glitch caused the watch to occasionally lose cellular connection, but Apple quickly fixed the problem with a software update. More important, the new smartwatch has exceptional battery life; in my tests, I had about 40 percent of battery life left, on average, after a full day of use. In addition, apps and features like the stopwatch and Siri work quickly.

This is the first smartwatch that feels like a mature, well-executed product that you can buy with confidence.