From the NSA to Google Glass, PlayStation 4 and iOS7 — what were the biggest tech stories of the year?
Tech Tuesday contributor Joey Marchy checked in with Melissa Ross on the biggest tech stories of the year.
The National Security Agency and Edward Snowden
It has been an interesting year for former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden.
In June, a series of articles published by The Guardian newspaper revealed the agency had been collecting information from Verizon cell phone users and tapping into user data from Apple, Google, Facebook, and other online platforms.
Following the disclosure of his identity as the person behind the leaks, Snowden spent weeks inside a Russian airport before being granted temporary political asylum there.
In the latest twist, today Snowden offered to help Brazil look into efforts by the NSA to spy on their officials, but only if he is first granted permanent political asylum.
"He acted on his belief that the NSA's mass surveillance programs would not withstand a constitutional challenge and that the American public deserved a chance to see what they were actually doing with their personal data," Marchy said of recent comments made by Snowden as to why he released the information on the programs.
The botched roll out of Healthcare.gov
The extremely rocky opening of the federal Health Insurance Marketplace gets Marchy's award for "biggest tech blunder" of 2013.
The cornerstone of President Barack Obama's signature health care reform legislation, the opening of the federal online health insurance exchange in October was a disaster as the thousands of people seeking insurance simply could not get through.
"The government's really done itself a disservice in terms of technology," Marchy said.
The technical failures have become a political talking point for those who had lined up against the Affordable Care Act, known as Obamacare, since it was proposed during Obama's first term in office.
"For something of this scale, with this much media attention, it should not have happened," Marchy said.
Twitter goes public
Small-form social media company Twitter was the only tech outlet whose initial public offering of stock broke into the top five for the year with 70 million shares sold and $1.8 billion raised.
While the opening was a success, Twitter still has no revenue stream, but Marchy said that isn't holding the company or investors back.
"I like to think of Twitter as an online utility," Marchy said. "Google is my utility for querying the web, Facebook is a utility for connecting with your friends on a larger social network."
"Twitter is really kind of the way that you get sentiment for what people around the world are thinking about an individual issue."
Additional stories that made Marchy's list are the launch of Google Glass, the release of XBOX One and PlayStation 4, Apple's iOS7, and Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos' acquisition of the Washington Post.
You can follow Melissa Ross on Twitter @MelissainJax.
