Tech hits and misses

A look back at the biggest tech hits and misses in recent years.

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Facebook | HIT

Facebook.com worker Ginnie Chan, left, works at Facebook headquarters on Feb. 5, 2007, in Palo Alto, Calif. The social-networking site launched in February 2004 exclusively to Harvard University. The site would later expand to 800 college networks and eventually open registration to everyone in September 2006. The site now boasts more than 750 million active users and counting.

Paul Sakuma / AP

Google Wave | MISS

In this screen shot taken in November 2009, a computer's screen shows the Google Wave application. Google Wave launched publicly in Sept. 30, 2009. The web app allows users to communicate and collaborate in real time "waves." After the app. failed to pick up steam, Google announced that it would stop developing Wave as a stand-alone product on Aug. 4, 2010.

Peter Zschunke / AP

Apple iPad | HIT

The iPad 2 is shown at an Apple event after the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts Theater on March 2 in San Francisco. The iPad, a touch screen tablet device, was released in 2010 amid a great amount of buzz. Apple released the iPad 2 in March with upgrades like a thinner design and two built-in cameras.

Jeff Chiu / AP

Nintendo Wii | HIT

Tyler Oyler plays with his Nintendo Wii on Nov. 19, 2006, at his home in Shepherdstown, W.Va. Nintendo released the Wii, a game console complete with wireless motion-sensitive remote controllers, in 2006 and in the process got thousands of people off their couch, changing the way people think of home gaming.

Martin B. Cherry / AP

Microsoft Zune | MISS

The ability to wirelessly share music between two of Microsoft Corp.'s new Zune music player is shown during a demonstration Oct. 27, 2006, in Redmond, Wash. Microsoft had hoped to take on Apple's popular iPod music player with features such as a built-in radio and the ability to share songs on a restricted basis wirelessly with other Zune players. The Zune hit stores in November 2006, but was never able to reach the same success as its counterpart. In March, reports surfaced that Microsoft would not be releasing new models of the Zune.

Ted S. Warren / AP

Apple iPod | HIT

The Apple iPod Nano on display after Apple product announcement on Sept. 9, 2008 in San Francisco. Apple launched the iPod in October 2001 advertising the MP3 player with the tag line "1,000 songs in your pocket." Nearly 10 years and several generations of the device later, 275 million iPods had sold through Sept. 1, 2010, according to Apple's Web site. In the process, the rise of the iPod has revolutionized the way people listen to music.

Paul Sakuma / AP

Amazon Kindle | HIT

In November 2007, Amazon launched the Kindle, an e-reader that allows users to read books, newspapers and magazines all at the touch of a finger. In May, the company announced that its Kindle book sales had grown so much that they had begun outselling print books on Amazon.com.

Anonymous / AP

Toshiba HD-DVD vs. Sony Blu-Ray | MISS & HIT

An HD DVD video disc of "The Bourne Supremacy" is seen at left, with a Blu-ray disc of "Superman Returns" at right, at a Ken Crane's Big Screen Headquarters store on Aug. 8, 2007, in Buena Park, Calif. Both types of high definition optical discs were publicly released in the U.S. in 2006 and directly competed against each other to take the top spot as the next step up from DVDs. Blu-ray discs would ultimately win the battle when HD DVDS fizzled out in 2008.

Reed Saxon / AP

Apple iPhone | HIT

Apple CEO Steve Jobs holds up an Apple iPhone at the MacWorld Conference on Jan. 9, 2007 in San Francisco. Apple introduced the iPhone in January 2007. Now over four years later, Apple is continuing to release updates and new versions of the cell phone. The iPhone 4 was released on June 24, 2010, with upgraded features like multitasking, video calling and HD video recording.

Paul Sakuma / AP

Microsoft Xbox 360 | HIT

With explosions happening on the screen, Will Amodei of Kent Wash. tries out the X-BOX 360 before the annual Microsoft shareholder meeting on Nov. 9, 2005 in Bellevue Wash. Microsoft released the Xbox 360 during the 2005 holiday season. The game console features Xbox Live, which allows users to chat with friends, play games with others and earn achievements.

John Froschauer / AP

FEATURED PHOTO GALLERIES

James Gandolfini stars as Tony Soprano in the critically acclaimed HBO series 'The Sopranos.' The show received 16 Emmy nominations Thursday, July 22, 1999, including best dramatic series and best actor for Gandolfini. It is the first cable show ever recognized in the dramatic series category. (AP Photo/HO, HBO, Anthony Nesta) Original Filename: EMMY NOMINATIONS.jpg ORG XMIT: LA109

James Gandolfini dies at 51

James Gandolfini, whose portrayal of a brutal, emotionally delicate mob boss in HBO’s “The Sopranos” helped create one of TV’s greatest drama series and turned...

WASHINGTON, DC - JUNE 19: Vice President Joe Biden speaks before the Frederick Douglass statue now permanently placed in the US Capitol's Emancipation Hall in Washington, DC on June 19, 2013. The statue of the abolition leader was chosen by District residents to represent them in the Capitol because of his stance on self governance according to Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC). The statue by artist Steven Weitzman, was blocked from it's placement in the Capitol for years, a victim of rules that stated that only the 50 states can display statues of their favored sons and daughters in the Capitol. The House and Senate passed a resolution last month allowing DC to be represented in Emancipation Hall which features statues of notable leaders nominated by each state. (Photo by Linda Davidson / The Washington Post)

Frederick Douglass statue unveiled in the Capitol

The carving of the famed abolitionist and District advocate finds its place inside the halls of Congress.

TV presenter and conservationist Anneka Tanaka-Svenska wears a hat designed by Louis Mariette during the first day of Royal Ascot, in Berkshire, west of London, on June 18, 2013. The five-day meeting is one of the highlights of the horse racing calendar. Horse racing has been held at the famous Berkshire course since 1711 and tradition is a hallmark of the meeting. Top hats and tails remain compulsory in parts of the course while a daily procession of horse-drawn carriages brings the Queen to the course. AFP PHOTO / ADRIAN DENNISADRIAN DENNIS/AFP/Getty Images

Photos of the day

Royal Ascot, protests in Brazil, Lego exhibition, flooding in India, Cheetah-Cub robot and more.

Two-year old male rat named Dyatlik wears a costume during a rodent exhibition in Minsk, Belarus, Saturday, June 15, 2013. (AP Photo/Sergei Grits)

Animal views

Rodent exhibition, swimming with elephants, Mexico’s feline mayoral candidate and more.

NEW YORK, NY - JUNE 18: Madonna attends the Dolce & Gabbana and The Cinema Society screening of the Epix World premiere of 'Madonna: The MDNA Tour' at The Paris Theatre on June 18, 2013 in New York City. (Photo by Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images)

Eye on entertainment

Madonna, Michael Buble, Barbara Streisand, Jackie Chan, Jerry Seinfeld, Estelle and other celebrities.

WASHINGTON, DC - JUNE 14: Johnathon Carrington, valedictorian at Dunbar High School, laughs with family and friends after his school's graduation ceremony at Howard University on Friday, June 14, 2013, in Washington, DC. Carrington, who grew up in Tyler House public-housing apartments and is graduating from one of DC's low-performing high schoolsy, where academic expectations are high. (Photo by Jahi Chikwendiu/The Washington Post)

Johnathon’s journey

Johnathon Carrington graduated Friday as the valedictorian of his neighborhood school, Dunbar High, and is headed to Georgetown University. But Carrington, 17, is nervous, and so are...

In this June 8, 2013 photo, youth compete in the Sao Carlos slum local soccer tournament in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The pitch is just dirt and the incandescent lights aren't so bright. But when the boys' feet strike the football in the Sao Carlos slum as night falls every Saturday, big league dreams glow, inflated by the hope of escaping the shantytown with sporting skills. (AP Photo/Felipe Dana)

Brazil’s other soccer fields

With the Confederations Cup opening this week and the World Cup one year away, all eyes are on Brazil, where soccer is arguably played with more passion and art than anywhere else....

Inmates walk at a high-security male prison camp outside Russia's Siberian city of Krasnoyarsk May 14, 2013. High-security male prison camp number 17 is intended to house male inmates who are serving a sentence for the first time, and have been convicted for serious crimes. Prisoners at the facility work in wood and metal processing shops, manufacture furniture, sew clothes and do other kinds of work. They can also take part in educational, sport and cultural programs. Picture taken May 14, 2013. REUTERS/Ilya Naymushin (RUSSIA - Tags: CRIME LAW SOCIETY) ATTENTION EDITORS: PICTURE 4 OF 29 FOR PACKAGE 'INSIDE SIBERIA'S PRISONS' SEARCH 'ILYA PRISON' FOR ALL IMAGES

Life in a Siberian prison

A look inside a high-security prison camp outside Krasnoyarsk, Russia

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