It’s always fun at this point in the year  look behind us and review the years best and worst tech’s and this week ABC Far North’s Kier Shorey and I explore my top 10 list of good, bad and ugly tech, 2016 style.

1. Headphones disappear – Apple continues to do what it does best, unilaterally decides what we need and then try to convince us their right. This year they decided, that because 48% of all device listening is done through Bluetooth headsets, that it was the right time to get rid of the hole in the phone that lets us plug our headset in and free up the space for something else. This has, as usual, come with huge outcries, 3rd party dongles and Apple temporarily reducing its own peripherals to help existing users overcome, but behind it all Apple stands strong on its decision and we resist change.

2. Fake news becomes the news – hoaxes, scams and false stories been around for ever, but this year they became mainstream when Zuckerberg was blamed for Trump’s win by allowing fake news stories to circulate through Facebook. Interesting because yes fake stories abound and we need to be mindful of where information is coming from, but what fascinates me is that so many people are calling for social media to practice Censorship and decide what should and shouldn’t be seen and read.

3. Samsung Galaxy 7 Note burns – fascinating look at how a big brand copes with a big problem and how enveloped the world becomes when a piece of tech goes bad. Will Samsung lose it reputation and sales moving forward. my guess is not, bring on Samsung 8.

4. Self driving cars are revving up their engines – this year self driving transport moved from science fiction to science fact with lots of media conversations and car and non car brands and everyday people all finally accepting that driverless cars, buses and trucks are coming to a road near us within the decade. Stay tuned in 2017 for more talk, more cars and more debates around “how we make it so”.

5. Hacking our nightmares – Bad people breaking into good people’s premises and stealing their possessions is not new and online this is no exception with cybersecurity becoming the hot topic of the year as we saw the Census site taken down, Government and retailer portals compromised and a recent Mirai botnet targeting the Internet of Things, this story. Unfortunately this story is only set to gain momentum in 2017 and beyond.

6 Facebook goes live – not since the advent of Skype have we seen such an uptake of personal live broadcasting and now Facebook Live lets us easily share with the world what we’re seeing and experiencing. This first person point of view reporting is already becoming the norm and is taking us to places and sharing experiences that we have never had access to before, Voyeurism or Visionary? – you decide

7 No one wants Twitter – Despite its big brand status, Twitter is having difficulty monetising its site and also finding someone to buy it. This unfolding story is a lesson into today’s unicorn corporations, well-known, well used, great on-paper value, but too often not profitable and unsaleable in its current form.

8 VR seen everywhere, but nowhere – Big year for Virtual Reality with lots of brands offering headsets for sale, but as is often the case with new tech it takes a while for it to find its purpose and place. Next year will be a year of conversations of why do we have it and what do we need it for, but behind the scenes the groundswell will continue to rise as this infancy tech slowly begins to find its way and purpose.

9. Uber everything – wherever we turned this year it seems Uber, used both as a noun and a verb, was there, doing it, promoting it, touting it, fighting it or being used as the yardstick for somebody else’s great innovation or thought – is any publicity, still good publicity it seems Uber thinks so.

10 Transport gone Hyperloopy – the story of the year in transport has to be Hyperloop, the vacuum tube train capable of doing speed of 750km per hour, has left the station this year and gone from being a geek dream to a Sheik reality with Dubai and several other countries all vying to be the first to have their own fast train.

As always a great chat, so listen live (15 minutes 03 seconds) and then add your thoughts to the best and worst of this years tech.