Top 5 Tech Fails of 2015 That Will Make You Facepalm

Year 2015 brought us game-changing technology that redefined the way we communicated, entertained ourselves and did things professionally.

While 2015 brought ground-breaking work, there are "innovations" that brought disappointment to many.

Below are our Top 5 tech fails of the year, which include devices, brands, gadgets and software disasters, that certainly deserve a facepalm moment.

1. Hoverboards

Yes, I suppose they can be called innovations since they are generally new. However, the holiday season's hottest gift are essentially just two-wheeled contraptions that top our list for several reasons.

First and most popular reason is their moments of spontaneous combustion. One of the most recent reports was of a hoverboard suddenly bursting into flames inside a Texas Mall, causing the evacuation of hundreds of shoppers.

The second reason? Hoverboards might not be an innovation after all. According to Mashable, Segway is suing the makers of hoverboards for patent infringement.

Third and not least, it seems that the only place you can ride them legally is inside the house. Some streets and sidewalks in the U.S. have banned the use of hoverboards.

2. Data breaches and Company Hacks

The year 2015 proved that nothing is private anymore once you put it up on the internet. It's now clear that in today's internet, any and all digital systems can be hacked.

Among the major data breaches of the year include health-insurance firm Anthem, infidelity site Ashley Madison, Hilton hotel chains, gadget vendor VTech, the federal government's Office of Personnel Management, messaging developer Slack, Premera Blue Cross, Excellus BlueCross BlueShield and Experian/T-Mobile.

According to iDigitalTimes, seven of these data breaches exposed an accumulated number of nearly 200 million records, leaving customers and employees vulnerable.

The data breaches became so many that they have even become staple in today's news.

After the hacks, companies make the usual public apology. Other than that, victims can do nothing else. Although, individuals and organizations are now more careful about digital security.

3. Pushy Marketing/Adwares

The dawn of 2015 introduced irritating attempts by companies at ads that users don't really need.

Major case in point is the adware/software "Superfish" made by a company in California that was found in Lenovo's laptops in the early months of 2015. The case became so bad that the Chinese-based tech company had to beg for forgiveness when the adware became exposed, according to USA Today.

There's also Verizon Wireless' "supercookie" tracking, which it mended by greatly scaling it back after buying AOL.

Spotify's also had its share with an expansionist privacy policy.

4. Apple Innovations

First is Apple Music, which reportedly ended up suffering when users discovered poor quality of UI and lack of differentiators. Apple Music digitally locks copies it provides of your own songs.

There was also the problem with iOS 9's transit directions, which reportedly didn't work on old-generation iPads. There's also pushy autocorrect on their smartphones and OS X's still-subpar Photos app.

The Apple News App, which was launched in the iOS 9 update as a replacement to the equally unpopular Newsstand, was supposed to transform the news industry, but it turned out to be another subpar and unused app from the Cupertino-based company.

The Herald Sun also considers the design of the MacBook as least practical mainly because of its having just one port.

5. Android Software

First is the Snapdragon 810 chip being prone to overheating. Yes, it's Qualcomm's fastest processor to date, but being too hot, it caused damage to several smartphones such as the HTC One M9 and the LG G Flex 2.

There's also the problem with Android's bugs and updates. The "stagefright" bug reportedly made most Android devices vulnerable to attack with multimedia messages. As such, victims had to wait for Google to release security fixes.

Hopefully, in 2016, companies will address these problems once and for all. After all, the goal of technology is to make things more convenient for people.