Tech That Sucks
When the server retires, your perfectly good gadget becomes a paperweight
Cloud dependence turns hardware into a subscription that nobody described as one, and the end date is set by somebody else entirely.
Tech That Sucks
Buggy apps, hostile updates and gadgets that were better two versions ago.
12 articles · updated August 11, 2026
Tech That Sucks
The update that reboots your laptop halfway through a sentence
Forced updates solve a genuine security problem and were handed to teams whose job is compliance, not your afternoon.
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Tech That Sucks
The update removed the feature you were using it for
Software regressions are not accidents of engineering. They are the visible edge of a decision about which users still count.
Tech That Sucks
Every app now wants to send you notifications about itself
The permission prompt appears before you have used the thing, because asking later would mean asking someone who has an opinion.
Tech That Sucks
Your television boots into an advertisement it downloaded overnight
The panel was sold at a price that only works if the set keeps earning afterwards. The home screen is where that happens.
Tech That Sucks
Locked out by the security system that was protecting you
Two-factor authentication genuinely works. The recovery path around it is where the design usually falls apart.
Tech That Sucks
Bluetooth: two devices that can see each other and refuse to speak
Pairing failures are not random. They come from a small set of causes, and knowing them turns a ten-minute ordeal into a…
Tech That Sucks
Storage full, and the largest file is something called Other
Devices fill with caches, duplicates and system reserves that no file manager will show you, and the cleanup tools are mostly…
Tech That Sucks
This lamp would like you to create an account
A local device asking for an email address is asking for something, and it is not usually the ability to switch on a light.
Tech That Sucks
The battery is fine, it is just that everything is awake
Background activity, network searching and screen brightness explain almost all unexpected battery drain, and only one of them is…
Tech That Sucks
Sorry, I did not catch that, said the speaker, four times
Voice assistants work well within a narrow band of names, accents and phrasings, and fail in ways that are entirely predictable…
Tech That Sucks
The hardware is already fitted, the subscription unlocks it
Charging monthly for a feature already installed in the object you own is a business model, and the object is the least important…