[parrotdoxical]

"Not a single breakthrough product was unveiled"

Probably the most damning line in the piece. It was indeed a year marked by cryptocurrency mania, NSA scandals, and worst of all, mediocre tech. Anyone think 2014 is going to be any different?

[svenkatesh]

I think so. It seems like cryptocurrencies are getting to the point where they're being utilized (as opposed to being used mostly for speculation) in consumer-facing businesses.

The NSA stuff is concerning, but I get the impression that businesses are working on creating secure and trustless infrastructure.

[michaelochurch]

Good things tend to happen in tech when the mainstream isn't looking.

During bubble times, you get douchebags from MBA-land who come in and, because they generally have superior social polish to real technologists, hog the resources and funding and attention. They make a hash of it, create loads of embarrassment, and slink away after the bubble deflates. Then the real actors get to work for a while... until that generates enough success to draw in the wrong crowd, and the cycle repeats.

Progress is occurring, but there's a shitload of nonsense that can distract one away from seeing it.