Smart Phones To Celebrity Hacks: Top Tech Stories In 2014
By Edward Cardenas
SOUTHFIELD (CBS Detroit) - New products, proposed mergers and hackings were among the top tech news stories in 2014.
Shoppers filled Apple stores for the new iPhone 6 and iPad, Comcast proposed to buy Time Warner and hackers were able to gain access to a number of celebrity iCloud accounts and their personal photos were leaked online.
Here are some of the stories which grabbed the headlines during the past 12 months:
- Comcast surprised the cable industry in February by announcing that it was purchasing Time Warner Cable for $45 billion. The acquisition is still being reviewed by federal regulators.
- Detroit's medical, business and government leaders gathered in June to announce the introduction of the Detroit Innovation District, which looks to harness the developments, direct development and coordinate efforts from the river to New Center.
- In July, Amazon joined the mobile phone market with the Fire Phone.
- Apple rolled out larger iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 plus in September. The computer company also introduced a thinner iPad Air 2 and a new mobile payment service called Apple Pay.
- While the new iPhones were purchased at record numbers, some of the owners reported that the phones bent when placed in their pockets leading to a trending topic on social media titled #bendgate.
- As tech businesses continue to grow in downtown Detroit, classes were launched to teach Detroiters, and those from around the region, to learn to code and have the skills to work at these firms.
- Kate Upton, Justin Verlander and Jennifer Lawrence were among the nearly 100 celebrities whose iCloud accounts were hacked in late August and posted on websites.
- Microsoft announced in September that it was buying the company which created the popular Minecraft game.
- Thoma Bravo announced in September that it was buying Detroit-based Compuware for $2.5 billion.
