The top 10 tech stories of 2013

Scott Martin | USA TODAY

SAN FRANCISCO — The tech industry, once again, hatched some of the hottest business stories of the year, piquing interests on privacy, enormous wealth creation and supersized falls from prominence.

NSA exposed



Former NSA contractor Edward Snowden's leak of confidential documents exposed the biggest government data-snooping scandal in decades. The revelations did such damage to people's little remaining trust in government that fears of the agency have become part of a greater U.S. consciousness. It also raised concerns over privacy-challenged consumer technology giants such as of Google, Facebook, Apple, Twitter and Microsoft.

What's more, the roughly 200,000 classified documents from Snowden are still coming out. It's been suggested that the worst payloads of privacy bombshells have yet to come. The NSA has been reportedly gathering data from 5 billion mobile phone records daily along with snooping in e-mails on a massive scale.

U.S. demands for Snowden's return from Russia, a subject of U.S. spying efforts and where he lives under temporary asylum, make this tale only more twisted. It's made for Hollywood, with little surprise studios are eyeing bids on the script.

Twitter IPO



Twitter's long-expected IPO launched a new wave of enthusiasm for social media investments. Its stock pop provided validation for its business, a $25 billion valuation and a wake of market hype and fresh doubts. To be sure, Twitter has cemented its place as a media-distribution powerhouse. It's become the world's gathering place for messages capable of toppling governments or blowing up stocks.

And with a successful IPO behind, Twitter has just begun to show how it will use its enormous data on members in new advertising forms. Wall Street scrutiny awaits its quarterly earnings reports.

Google barges



What kicks off curiosity like an Apple product rumor? Google floating mysterious barges in the San Francisco Bay with unknown purposes, that's what. The move set off a frenzy of speculation from Silicon Valley to beyond as to what Google had up its sleeve.

Google last month responded to the growing queries ranging from a floating data center to new movable showrooms for Google Glass eyewear and other computing devices. Google said it's considering using the barge as an "interactive space where people can learn about new technology," a near confirmation of the latter.

Bitcoin boom

Investors' fascination with the digital currency Bitcoin drove its value past $1,000 in 2013, up from $13.50 on Jan. 1.

Bitcoins were launched onto the Internet in 2009 by an anonymous cryptography expert or group named Satoshi Nakamoto. The currency lives on a decentralized network of computers. Bitcoins can be sent among buyers and sellers using digital addresses and safe-keeping wallets secured by passwords, and marketplace sites have emerged to sell them.

The currency can be used to purchase goods and services from a limited few early adopter merchants. It remains to be seen whether Bitcoins will become a new gold-like alternative investment standard or the next tulip-bulb bubble.

Facebook rebounds

Facebook in 2013 recovered from its public offering flop. Stagnating below its $38 pricing, Facebook had cast a pall on the IPO market in 2012. Yet Facebook's new status as a public company soon delivered earnings results that put to rest doubts over its mobile transition, revenue trajectory and profitability.

Mark Zuckerberg's elite CEO status — he'd come under question over company morale concerns — was remarkably restored. But more than that, investor confidence was recharged in the potential for social media advertising and related businesses.

Valuations soar

With Facebook doubts cast aside, start-up valuations rocketed in 2013. Social-related businesses scored big in particular. But it doesn't stop there.

Facebook last month dangled $3 billion to social newbie Snapchat in a bid for its popular app that sends disappearing photo and video messages. That came as social scrapbook Pinterest scored new funding valuing the company at $3.8 billion.

Investors pumped funding into streaming music service Spotify that valued the company at $4 billion, and Dropbox was reportedly eyeing a round at an $8 billion valuation near year's end.

BlackBerry sours

BlackBerry launched its do-or-die revamped smartphone lineup and operating system at the start of this year. The smartphone pioneer's last shot came too late and fell short in revitalizing the company. BlackBerry failed last month in efforts to sell itself and has replaced CEO Thorsten Heins. The company has seen an exodus of executives and done massive layoffs.

The company's chief operating officer and marketing chief split last month, and its CFO was replaced. Investor confidence in BlackBerry, whose shares have plummeted 68% from earlier this year, is shattered as a suitor has yet to emerge.

Dell private

Michael Dell's namesake PC company is another casualty of the mobile computing revolution. Shareholders in September approved a $25 billion bid to go private with funding coming from CEO Dell and Silver Lake. The plan took 14 months of wrangling to get passed, with Carl Icahn proposing an alternative plan in a match-up with Southeastern Asset Management, expecting to extract a higher price than what was on the table.

Apple vs. Samsung

Apple last month landed a jury verdict of $290 million in damages in its patent dispute against Samsung Electronics over technologies used in iPhone and iPads. Apple was seeking $380 million. The damages bring Apple's total haul against Samsung in the case to $929 million, including an order in March that awarded $599 million over 14 products and one in April for $40.5 million.

The verdicts bring down only slightly last year's jury award to Apple of more than $1 billion, finding Samsung had infringed its patents in 26 products, and are seen as a sweeping Apple victory.

Microsoft reorganizes

Facing a battered PC market and slipping consumer relevance, Microsoft made a bid for the tablet market that flopped in 2013. Its lackluster tablet foray led to a $900 million write-down in the year. A week before the financial admission of failure, Microsoft was already shaking up its business with the announcement of a reorganization. The bid to shake up its silos of departments and streamline operations around hardware and services with a new reporting structure lacked one thing: a visionary leader.

CEO Steve Ballmer in August announced plans to retire once his successor is found, giving the company a chance to reinvent itself with a fresh perspective at the helm. Rumors persist over whom that may be.