The Year that was 2010 - Business and Technology

This is a continuation of my Year End Review: 2010.. Part 4 of 5 - Business and Technology

Business and Technology

This year so the increase in popularity of smartphones and e-readers while businesses continue to falter due to this troubling economy.

China becomes 2nd largest World Economy
China became the second largest world economy in August surpassing Japan. In the second quarter, China's economic value was pegged at $1.33 trillion compared to Japan's $1.28 trillion.

Continental-United Merger
Continental Airlines and United Airlines started merger process and in August, the Justice department arrpove the merger between the two airline company creating the world's largest airline. Not to be outdone, Southwest Airlines bought AirTran Airway for $1.4 billion in September.

Toyota Woes
Toyota was fined a total of $48 million this year due to its numerous recalls with regards to its vehicles. It recalled 2.3 million vehicles in January due to accelerator problems. Then recalled about 5 million due to floor mats. It also recalled 436,000 hybrids due to faulty brakes.

Apple passes Microsoft as Most Valuable Technology Company
Apple surpassed Microsoft in May as the most valuable technology company after Microsoft has dominated the industry for over 20 years.

iPad
The iPad was introduced in January and sold in mid-April to much funfare. Of course, it was hounded by controversy when AT&T discovered a security leak on its website that exposed 114,000 email addresses of iPad Users and the FBI was asked to investigate.Of course, the iPad still has its shortcomings like it does not support Flash but there is always a work around.

iPhone4
So an engineer from Apple mistakenly left a prototype of iPhone 4 in a bar which was picked up by someone and then sold it to Gizmodo. All in a span of three weeks and started the iPhone 4 craze. Then it finally came out and reports of the "Death Grip" or even the glass casing shattering didnt deter consumers into buying the phone.

The Year of Facebook
Facebook surely garnered much attention this year from its privacy issues to the facebook movie, The Social Network, which garnered some Oscar buzz and it founder, Mark Zuckerberg, being named Time Magazine Person of the Year. Mark Zuckerberg donated $100 million to the Newark Public Schools

Google and China
Google threaten to leave China in response to the hacking of email accounts in Jan.


Even the giants fail
Carnival's Splendor cruise ship lose power off the California coast in November after a fire broke out in its engine room. For three days, more than 4500 passengers and crew members were left stranded at sea. Emergency food supplies were dropped on to the ship with its food supply diminishing. Tugs boats brought the ship back to San Diego. Carnival gave refunds to the passengers as well as trip vouchers.

First Full Face Transplant
A team of 30 Spanish doctors successfully completed the first ever full face transplant on March 20. Oscar (not his real name), a Spanish farmer, was disfigured after a gun accident in 2005. He was operated at Vall d'Hebron University Hospital in Barcelona. The 24 hour operation took two months to plan.

Protons Collided
On March 30, CERN or the European Organization for Nuclear Research smash two protons travelling 3.5 TeV of energy.

Bed Bugs
Bed bugs struck New York City after Terminex released its list of worst cities for bed bugs and ranking NYC the worst. Businesses ranging from movie houses to clothing stores were force to shut down in order to get rid of the infestation.


Sources: Yahoo! 2010 in Review, Wikipedia, Twitter, Infoplease, CNN, LA Times