worst

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

It's actually somewhat difficult to track down CNET's lowest-rated reviews of 2012. Our whole site is designed to surface the best, most-worthy products to the top and help you make a smart shopping decision. The losers all tend to sink into obscurity. But with some careful sorting I was able to cobble together all of the reviews of the past year rated under three stars.

But we're a pretty ruthless bunch here at CNET, so narrowing the list down to just five selections wasn't easy. For this list, I went with my personal picks. That meant leaving out the abysmal ZTE Score M, since I already roasted that thing in my "Top 5 phones to avoid." I also left out products like the HP Pavilion HPE Phoenix h9z and Kodak ESP 3.2 All-in-One Printer, because they were more chronically disappointing than truly awful. … Read more

Each year we're treated to 12 months worth of games all competing for your hard earned cash. Some are must-buys, some are just average, but only a select few can be labeled the year's most truly disappointing.

This year I'll take a look at the games and trends that induced the most head-scratching and face-palming reactions from an entire calendar year. Brace yourselves. It gets ugly here on out.

Feeling nostalgic? Here's what stunk in 2011.

2012 was a year when many of the big names in tech took big gambles...and lost.

CNET recently ran a collection highlighting 2012's biggest Tech Turkeys, and it seemed ripe for a remix over here on Top 5. I swiped four from their list, added one of my own, and ranked the whole thing by how long I imagine it took the respective CEOs to remove their palms from their face.

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Not every phone can be great. Sometimes, in the rush to get a phone to market, the final product comes out a little half-baked.

A few weeks ago, CNET's Jessica Dolcourt published a blog post called "Don't buy these phones." Being the math whiz that I am, I noticed that her list had five phones and I promptly rehashed it to fit my purposes.

Now, these aren't terrible phones. Most are rated between 2 and 3 stars. They work as advertised, they won't fall apart … Read more

You ready to play the tech name game?

For starters, it's a juicy day for iPhone 5 rumors. The next iPhone could have a smaller dock connector with 19 pins, instead of Apple's typical 30-pin port. TechCrunch is reporting that three manufacturing sources say Apple will be using a port that's roughly the size of a micro USB. If there's truth to this, get ready to dish out money for new accessories. It won't fit that pretty little iHome charging dock anymore. (But hey, Apple fans always dish out money for new accessories. So no … Read more

LOS ANGELES--As E3 2012 shuts its doors, we're not entirely sure we ever want them to open up again. Scott and Jeff spent a day going to press conferences and two full days on the show floor. It wasn't pretty and what follows is a brutally honest take on the show.… Read more

Companies agonize over what to name a product, and we certainly recognize how difficult a process it is to come up with a good name.

Over the years, we've seen lots of good ones; the Palm Pilot, the Motorola Razr, TiVo, the Flip cam, are just a few.

But today we're not here to celebrate success. No, let us to rejoice in failure and admire some of the truly bad--and, in some cases, truly awful--names that have come along in the last 10 years or so, including the latest addition to the list: Motorola's Droid Xyboard. … Read more

It takes a special kind of alchemy to make a great tablet.

Even mediocre tablets require a certain finesse of software and aesthetic. The screen, the right Android OS, the placement of the buttons, the cameras, and the connections all have to come together in the right way, and at the right price.

Sometimes, though, things go terribly wrong. You cut the wrong corner or rush out with buggy software and the next thing you know, you end up here, on CNET's list of the worst tablets of 2011.