Reliving a year, 2024 indeed inundated us with a mystery rollercoaster in the sphere of computing. In a remarkable showcasing of technological marvels, LG unveiled its stretchable screen while globally acclaimed brands like Samsung introduced the highly-rated Galaxy Ring and Meta released their Ray-Ban smart glasses. The chronicle of computing tales in this year was manifold, yet a handful of 9 occurrences stand out as peculiar. These are some of the zany happenings in computing from 2024.
The US government’s veritable tech Titan, the supercomputer Cheyenne, departed the official ranks for a paltry sum of $480,000 at a public auction. In May, the gigantic, cost-intense supercomputer, Cheyenne, transitioned from the state’s possession for a mere $480,085. The term ‘mere’ might seem misplaced, yet the comparison with the original funding makes this amount seem significantly diminished.
Proving a comedic plot twist in the world of gaming microtransactions, Bethesda made headlines with an eye-popping price blunder. The prevailing agreement is that microtransactions can be a pesky addition to gaming. Nevertheless, the year marked an interesting exception when an erroneous pricing of a game bundle was made public. The General’s Personal Bundle for Fallout 76 was erroneously listed for an extravagant $1,999 – and $1,799 for Xbox Game Pass subscribers.
A significant disruption in the Verizon network affected a staggering count of over 1.6 million folks. On a fateful September afternoon, starting around 10 a.m. Eastern Time, Verizon was hit by a substantial outage. By 4 p.m., the count of reported outage instances ballooned to over 1.6 million – a rather conservative estimate considering the probable actual afflicted population.
In a victorious yet unexpected pivot, OpenAI steered its course away from potential bankruptcy, courtesy of generous investments from Microsoft and others. In the midst of major fiscal turbulence around July, OpenAI received a much-needed bailout from their most impactful investor in Microsoft.
NCS (National Computer Systems) in Singapore, after parting ways with Indian national Kandula Nagaraju, allegedly for subpar performance, faced an astonishing blow. In a catastrophic oversight, the company failed to revoke Nagaraju’s system access, allowing him to successfully create and implement scripts that eliminated 180 test servers. The aftermath was devastating, costing the company nearly $700,000 and landing Nagaraju with a prison sentence of almost three years.
An undersea cable disruption sparked conspiracies of potential clandestine sabotage. The undersea fiber-optic internet cables extending from Finland to Germany and between Lithuania and Sweden were mysteriously severed. German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius disclosed that the accident seemed less accidental and more like an intentional act of sabotage, without alluding to any suspected parties.
Kamala Harris found herself in the midst of a tizzy over her choice of earrings during a presidential debate. The discussion was if she dared to utilize Nova H1 Audio Earrings to receive external prompts during her debate. In a turn of events, the earrings were identified as a 18K gold South Sea Pearl Earrings from Tiffany and Co, reaffirming Harris’ words were truly her own, though some skeptics remained unconvinced.
An Airbnb guest caught the spotlight for a staggering electricity bill that was generated during a crypto-mining endeavor. A tale that piqued the interest of many, property owner ‘Ashley’ had to turn to Airbnb to demand compensation for the unexpected $1,500 utility bill run up by a guest.
In a chaotic turn of events in July, a single content update for Windows hosts led to a staggering IT outage on a global scale. This update inadvertently wreaked havoc, inciting ‘blue screen of death’ errors worldwide, leading to widespread disrupted services across several industries, from banking to air travel and supermarkets.