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2012: The tech year in numbers

The past year has been another tumultuous one for the tech industry. Here are some numbers that caught the eye throughout the year - from hackers to the Olympics, Raspberry Pi and the ongoing travails of HP.
Written by Sam Shead, Contributor

The past year in tech has, as ever, been full of surprises. Here we've looked back at some of the key numbers that made headlines in 2012.

January - '100,000' Facebook logins stolen

An Israeli hacker named Hannibal claimed he had access to 100,000 Facebook accounts after stealing log-on details from Arab users. In fact the actual number of login details he managed to obtain was closer to the 20,000 mark, many of them having proved invalid.

February - $47m spent on HP CEO compensation

HP coughed up $30.41m in compensation for ousted CEO Leo Apotheker. Meanwhile, his successor Meg Whitman picked up $16.52m in total compensation, bringing the company's total spend to nearly $47m. Unfortunately for HP, it wasn't the only big number they had to write off this year.

March - 19 million Justin Bieber followers see Tweet from hacker

Justin Bieber had his Twitter account hacked when someone Tweeted to his 19 million followers: "19 million my ass #biebermyballs." The hacker also started blocking and unfollowing many of the Canadian popstar's followers. 

April - 250,000 people on Raspberry Pi waiting list

Raspberry Pi distributor RS Components said a quarter of a million people were attempting to get their hands on the cheap, credit-card sized Linux computer in April. The Corby-based electronics distributor had not anticipated the huge level of demand and ended up making hobbyists and fans wait weeks and even months to get their hands on the device. 

May - Oracle told it may only win $150,000 in compensation from Google

In what was once touted as a $6bn case, Oracle was told it might end up with only $150,000 in statutory damages after accusing Google of patent infringement. A month later, it filed a petition asking Google to pay $0 in statuatory damages - but only so that Oracle could expedite its plans for an appeal.

June - 100 years since Alan Turing was born

Computing fans marked the centenary of the birth of computing pioneer Alan Turing on 23 June. The Science Museum in London staged an exhibition to celebrate the life of Turing, whose work helped end World War II and laid the groundwork for today's computers, while helping to set the standard for artificial intelligence. 

July -$5bn paid by Cisco for NDS

Cisco bought video software company NDS for $5bn in its fifth acquisition of the year, in a bid to accelerate the Cisco Videoscape platform.

August - 500,000 BT Wi-Fi hotspots for the London Olympics

BT added 100 additional Wi-Fi points along a 27-mile stretch of the River Thames at popular tourist sites such as the London Eye and the Cutty Sark in Greenwich to bring the total number of hotspots in the capital to 500,000 during the Olympics. BT also said its network at the Olympic Park had carried 1,150 terabytes of information in total during the Games, with peak traffic at 6.71Gbps.

September - Five million iPhones sold in three days

Apple sold five million iPhone 5 units on its launch weekend. However, some analysts had predicted it would sell between six and 10 million, proving that you can't please everyone.

October - One billion people on Facebook

Facebook reached the one-billion user landmark and revealed it had 600 million mobile users. But ZDNet questioned how it will monetise the vast amounts of information it is obtaining from its users. 

November - $8.8bn writedown on HP following Autonomy purchase

HP took an $8.8bn writedown after buying Autonomy for $11.1bn in 2011, subsequently alleging financial improriety - something Autonomy's former managers have vehemently denied. CEO Meg Whitman has since come out and said that HP will still back software company Autonomy 100 percent.

December - Google Maps racks up 10 million downloads on iOS in 48 hours

When Google Maps was reintroduced to Apple's iOS platform, it gained 10 million downloads in less than 48 hours. The launch of the app came after Apple was heavily criticised for its own mapping service, which CEO Tim Cook publicly apologised for.

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