The Most Intriguing Tech Disasters In History

Not every innovation is a success. Not every invention instantly makes it to the top of the list. Where do they end up? Not on the failures list but on our list of “How on Earth did that happen?” Here is taking a look at some of the weirdest tech disasters of all time!

1. The Blackberry outage 

Back when the Blackberry was one of the largest phones out there, a service outage was a serious issue! One of the major disasters to affect the phone was a service outage in 2011 that left some customers in Europe, the Middle East, Africa, South America, the United States, and Canada without text messaging or internet access for a few days. The outage eventually led many customers to switch to iOS or Android devices. When an analysis was done on what went wrong, this outage was cited as one of the major reasons for the drop in the users of the Blackberry.

2. Grand Theft Auto 

Since the beginning of gaming history, gamers have found little hidden treasures and Easter Eggs. However, Grand Theft Auto went a step further. Hackers found sex simulations hidden deep into Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas! The moment this news became public, Rockstar Games suffered. Boxes started gathering dust on the shelves and the revenue fell down drastically! Grand Theft Auto was never the same after this disastrous discovery!

3. Pepsi bottling numbers glitch 

During the early 1990s, a Pepsi promotion in the Philippines claimed one lucky customer who found a bottle with the number 349 printed under its cap would win a large sum of money. Unfortunately, a computer glitch caused thousands of number 349 caps to be printed, leading to riots in the streets and even a bombing of a Pepsi plant in the country. Oh Pepsi, you boo boo maker!

4. Apple Mac Portable 

Expected to break barriers when it came to portable systems, the 1989 released Apple Mac Portable was anything but that! As heavy as a tree trunk, the portable mac failed miserably. It was so bad, it had to be discontinued in October 1991.

5. The LAX network failure 

In 2007, a computer outage at Los Angeles International Airport led to the stranding of 17,000 passengers on international flights for 10 hours. The problem occurred because US Customs authorities could not screen the passengers without the software. It was later revealed the software had not been updated for more than 3 months, causing this unfortunate breakdown.

Technology can be a funny thing. When it takes off, it takes off with a bang. When it fails, the repercussions are disastrous, to say the least. If you think we missed out on any interesting tech disasters, please feel comment and let us know!