fails

Top 5 Facebook flops

After Facebook's recent update to the Newsfeed, I got to thinking about how many Facebook features have failed over the years. And I don't mean the now-typical Terms of Service disasters. I mean new ideas, new features, and new products that took developers months or years of work, and just flat-out bombed.

Now, this is one of my lists that's completely subjective. I didn't rate these based on estimates of Facebook's time invested or profit loss or some ridiculous calculation of "flop" factor. If you disagree with my selections or ranking, you won'… Read more

In half-baked phone theft, thief slips, posts pot shot of self on victim's Facebook page

Evidence can be a menace.

You think you've gotten away with something, and then that moment comes along when you suddenly remember that perhaps you've left a clue.

This thought may (or may not) have crossed the mind of an alleged cell phone thief.

As the New York Post reports, police in the Bronx feel sure that what happened is that a certain man -- whose picture they now have -- robbed a 27-year-old woman of her gadget.

He then allegedly used it to take a quite fetching picture of himself smoking pot.

This would not be the … Read more

Twitter hit by overcapacity issues

Updated: Twitter has since reported that the issue was resolved.

The fail whale is alive and well at Twitter this morning.

"Some users may be experiencing issues accessing Twitter," the company reported on its status page today. "Our engineers are currently working to resolve the issue."

Downrightnow.com, which tracks the availability of Web sites, indicates that Twitter has been up and down for the past several hours. A similar site, Isitdownrightnow.com, shows that Twitter is currently up but notes that it was down earlier.

On my end, I've been able to access the … Read more

The ultimate gall of a heartless iPhone thief

One should never expect justice in life.

The best one can hope for is poetry.

And yet, just once or twice, both manage to collide with a deliciousness that moves the soul.

Here is the tale of a teenage girl who had her iPhone stolen.… Read more

Public school system's e-mail sends parents to sex site

School officials don't always do their homework.

Errors creep in -- sometimes creepy ones.

Still, who cannot feel a pang of guffaw-suppressing empathy for whomever wrote an e-mail on behalf of the Chicago Public Schools system?

As CBS Chicago sniggers it, parents were being notified by the Schools system of adjustments to the Illinois Standards Achievement Test.

Helpfully, the e-mail notification included a link to the Illinois State Board of Education Web site.

Perhaps, though, there was a copy-paste failure. Or perhaps the author decided to type out the whole link. Or perhaps... well, anyway.

Somehow, an extra letter … Read more

Tweet failures plaguing Twitter's official apps

Twitter users are reporting problems receiving tweets in their official Twitter apps this afternoon.

In a post to its official status blog, Twitter acknowledged the issue, saying: "Some users may be experiencing a delay with new tweets in their timelines. Our engineers are currently working on this issue."

A search for "Twitter app" reveals a lot of unhappy people, though people using clients like TweetDeck seem to be having no problems.

In recent days, there's been much talk of the end of the so-called "fail whale" in light of Twitter's performance having … Read more

Low Latency No. 39: Page-by-page directions

Low Latency is a weekly comic on CNET's Crave blog written by CNET editor and podcast host Jeff Bakalar and illustrated by Blake Stevenson. Be sure to check Crave every Thursday at 8 a.m. PT for new panels! Want more? Here's every Low Latency comic so far.

Samsung to bloggers: Promote our products at IFA or walk home

Memo to bloggers: If Samsung offers to fly you to an event, make sure you have your own return-trip ticket.

According to a detailed story in The Next Web, some time back Samsung reportedly reached out to some mobile-tech bloggers in India and offered to fly them to the IFA 2012 conference now under way in Berlin. One of the bloggers -- Clinton Jeff of New Delhi -- said he made clear that he would only attend the conference as a reporter, and that he would not be doing any promotional work for the company. Samsung reportedly had no issues … Read more

Fleetwood Macintosh: #FailedTechBand names on Twitter

The top Twitter trend yesterday, #FailedTechBands, is a hilarious play on words that includes some clever imaginary band names.

According to trend-tracking site Topsy, the trend started with a tweet from Mashable features writer Christine Erickson that read "Fleetwood Macintosh #FailedTechBands."

Click through this CBSNews gallery to see more of these creative musical monikers. … Read more

Tetris wall graphics let blockheads stick up bricks

LAS VEGAS--Many world champion Tetris players claim to see falling bricks in their dreams (see: Tetris Effect), and now players of all skill levels can wake up to the puzzle game with their own Tetronimo wall graphics, thanks to a collaboration between Tetris and Walls360.

Walls360 is a start-up co-founded by Tavia Campbell, John Doffing, and Yiying Lu, the artist responsible for the famous Twitter Fail Whale. Their wall graphics first caught my eye when they hosted a kick-off event two years ago to launch the company, and since then they've partnered with brands like Star Trek and Paddington Bear to create high-quality adhesive wall images.… Read more