Ah, 2016. You were a vindictive, nasty year marred by fake news, mean people, and countless hacks. But for all the bad, there were some heartwarming and hilarious spots in the world of tech.
As the year draws to a close, -‘s a look at some of the top tech talkers – both the sweet and the sour – that helped encapsulate the year in technology.
“Your revenge has been served well, cold and (until now) anonymously.” – Nick Denton, founder of Gawker
Nick Denton penned a letter to Peter Thiel after the PayPal billionaire was revealed to be financing the Hulk Hogan sex tape lawsuit against the Gawker website.
Thiel explained his motivation for going after the popular, snarky site in a New York Times editorial, writing, “As an internet entrepreneur myself, I feel partly responsible for a world in which private information can be instantly broadcast to the whole planet. I also know what it feels like to have one’s own privacy violated.”
Thiel’s side ultimately won. Gawker’s assets were sold to Univision and the flagship site was shuttered.
“I really don’t have any other motivation for personally accumulating assets, except to be able to make the biggest contribution I can to making life multi-planetary.” – Elon Musk
Thiel’s old PayPal friend Elon Musk finally revealed his master plan in September for how he wants to help colonize Mars.
“I’ve always considered myself one of the top women in the world, so I would say this shows excellent judgement on his part.” – Caity Weaver, upon hearing that she was the only woman Elon Musk followed on Twitter
GQ reporter and former Gawker star Caity Weaver was, for a brief time, the only woman in the world Musk followed. It appears he’s since hit the unfollow button. The follow came around the same time a Motherboard analysis of Musk’s Twitter account revealed he didn’t follow any women. (Musk said he only follows news organizations and has an equal balance of the sexes on Instagram.)
“I thought it was either a wrong number or my grandma learned how to use a phone correctly.” – Jamal Hinton, who was accidentally invited to Thanksgiving dinner
High school student Hinton was accidentally invited to Thanksgiving dinner by someone else’s grandma via text message. As promised, Grandma Wanda still saved him a plate and the two dined together on Thanksgiving.
“Records are meant to be broken… I am looking forward to when these records in space are surpassed.” – astronaut Scott Kelly
Kelly, who came back to Earth in March after a year in space, announced his retirement and said he hoped future space travelers would beat his record-breaking stay.
Related: Astronaut Scott Kelly Retiring After a Year in Space
“I mean, it could be Russia, but it could also be China. It could also be lots of other people. It also could be somebody sitting on their bed that weighs 400 pounds, OK? You don’t know who broke in to DNC.” – Donald Trump
As the Republican nominee, Donald Trump speculated during a debate about who may have been behind the Democratic National Committee hacks.
“I was recently hacked myself…Yeah, all they did was release some nude pics of me, which is nothing because I don’t know if you all know this about me, but I ain’t shy.” – Leslie Jones
Saturday Night Live star Leslie Jones talked about her hacking ordeal on “Weekend Update.”
“Personally, I think the idea that fake news on Facebook, of which it’s a very small amount of the content, influenced the election in any way is a pretty crazy idea.” – Mark Zuckerberg
The Facebook CEO was responding to critics who said his social network helps spread fake news. Zuckerberg addressed the issue in subsequent posts, and ultimately implemented a plan to stop fake news sites from making money and easier ways for people to report it when they see it.
“The courage to move on and do something new that betters all of us.” – Apple’s Phil Schiller, on the missing headphone jack
Apple’s senior vice president of marketing gave a moving eulogy to the 3mm headphone jack as he introduced the new port in the iPhone 7.
“I’m a Muslim, and I would like to report a crazy man threatening a woman on a stage in Missouri.” – author Mustafa Bayoumi responding to Trump’s call to report suspicious activity
Author Mustafa Bayoumi had one of the…
