2020 has finally come to an end, and for many, it was a tumultuous ride that nobody wants to remember. From the spiking rates of the coronavirus pandemic, uneasy wildfires, racial injustice protests, political divisions, to the death of high-profile figures, 2020 was a challenging year for all of us.
We do have COVID-19 vaccines on the way, but this is not about it. On this list, we're taking a look back at such an unprecedented year and the top five worst and weirdest tech products we should leave behind in 2020.
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Unregulated Facial Recognition Technology
Facial recognition technology is such a controversial tech product, to begin with. While it lets you match a human face against a database of faces to authenticate users through ID, some find it a breach of privacy. It can be a double-edged sword, depending on how it's used.
2020 was not a good year for the Chinese government. Last February, the government had its first-ever lawsuit regarding facial recognition technology, especially against Uighur minorities, triggering a widespread and heated debate.
Apple Removing Charging Adapters From Their Newer Lineups
Earlier in October, Apple rolled out its newer iPhone 12 lineups and its variants: iPhone 12 Mini, iPhone 12 Pro, and iPhone 12 Pro Max, with no charging adapters and earpods included in its box.
The reason is to achieve the "environmental goals" set by the tech giant, which sounds ridiculous because not everyone has ever owned an iPhone before. What's next? No SIM ejector included?
Google New Logos Nobody Asked For
More from October, Google launched a sudden change to some of its products' logos, like Gmail, Calendar, Docs, Meet, and Sheets. The new logos are super Google-ish, and they feel predominantly red, green, blue, and yellow. It was, and still is, confusing for both new and old users. The change is a part of Google's venture to rebrand Google Workspace and merge everything into one place for all.
Quibi Burning $1.75 Billion From Investors
A short-lived streaming platform, Quibi was launched in 2018 in hopes that it could compete with other big names in the game. Two years later, Jeffrey Katzenberg, the company's CEO, dissolved Quibi after raising a whopping $1,75 billion investment from investors because it fell short of its subscriber projections. Disney, Comcast's NBCUniversal, and AT&T's WarnerMedia are among the company's biggest funders, as CNBC reported.
"Hyper Realistic-Looking" Cyberpunk 2077
Lastly, sorry, not sorry, we have "Cyberpunk 2077." After a series of delays and grueling crunch culture, CD Projekt Red launched its ambitious project to the world-only to meet with a hostile welcome from the community.
Despite being marketed during the PS4 era, the "Cyberpunk 2077" experience on PS4 and Xbox One's current-gen consoles has been horrifying. Bugs, glitches, unpolished graphics, and sluggish gameplay are everywhere to be found. "Cyberpunk 2077" is so bad that Sony decided to pull the game off its PlayStation Store just a couple of weeks after its release.
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