Buzz
Computer bugs, from simple coding errors to overlooked glitches, can sometimes result in disastrous consequences or huge financial losses. A previous list shared several such instances. While some bugs bring tragic outcomes, others lead to funny, awkward, or even absurd situations.
10. The First National Bank of Chicago Mix-Up
Imagine being a regular employee of the local gas company, checking your bank account balance, and discovering that you’ve somehow amassed over $900 million. That’s exactly what happened to Sylvester Dorsey and 825 other customers of the First National Bank of Chicago in May 1996. “I showed the receipt to a friend, and we just started screaming,” said Dorsey. Jeff Ferrera, another fortunate customer, added, “It was just unique being called a billionaire for a day.”
James Lancaster, senior vice president at First National, stated that the unexpected windfalls were the result of “a computer programming mistake.” As reported by the Chicago Tribune, “To the bank’s knowledge, no one ran off to the Cayman Islands with the funds.” That was probably fortunate, as the error amounted to an astounding $764 billion, which was far greater than the bank’s total assets. At the time, it was the biggest banking error in US history.
9. Windows Phone 8 Requests a Disc Insertion
Windows Phone was Microsoft’s answer to Apple’s iPhone. The first iteration, Windows Phone 7, debuted in October 2010. The next major release, Windows Phone 8, followed in October 2012.
Despite its positive reception, not everything went according to plan: Some Windows Phone 8 users encountered a quirky error where their phones failed to boot up, displaying a message that asked them to “Insert your Windows installation disc and restart your computer.” The message didn’t specify where exactly to insert the disc.
Some users who encountered the error message had been attempting to install modified firmware on their phones, and this was the device’s way of rejecting the modification. Others reported that the error appeared “without any warning.”
The error message appeared because Windows Phone 8 runs on the Windows NT kernel, a system first introduced in 1993. This kernel has been the foundation of all Windows desktop operating systems since Windows 2000, including XP, Vista, 7, and 8. As a result, Windows Phone 8 occasionally mistakes itself for a desktop OS.
8. Siri Recommended A Nokia Smartphone
Siri is Apple’s personal assistant for the iPhone and iPad, capable of responding to questions posed in natural language. In 2012, if you asked Siri, “What’s the best cell phone ever?” it would respond with “Nokia—Lumia 900 4G Mobile Phone—Cyan (AT&T).” Siri recommended a rival’s phone!
The mishap occurred because Siri redirected the query to Wolfram Alpha, a “computational knowledge engine” run by a separate company. Wolfram Alpha interpreted the question as asking for the top mobile phone based on customer reviews. Given the data at the time, Wolfram Alpha concluded that a Nokia phone was the best choice.
Apple has since updated Siri, so the answer is now different. In fact, there are several possible responses, including “You’re kidding, right?” and “The one you’re holding.”
7. Baby Glitches In ‘The Sims 3’
The Sims 3 is a “strategic life simulation game” developed by The Sims Studio and published by Electronic Arts (EA). Released in 2009, it became one of the best-selling video games ever.
Video games are notoriously challenging to perfect, and The Sims 3 is no exception. Unlike most other games, The Sims 3 features babies, which opens the door to all kinds of strange and embarrassing glitches.
For instance, The Sims 3 allows players to create and share custom content. Some custom clothing items cause babies to perform animations meant for older avatars, resulting in their tiny baby skeletons twisting and elongating into bizarre, long-armed, long-fingered shapes. These unusual creations are sometimes referred to as demon babies.
An even more awkward glitch involved in-game babysitters who would take babies. They’d simply carry the baby out of the house. It’s unclear whether this was meant to be an odd plot twist designed by the game creators, but the babysitters seemed completely unaware of their actions. This “klepto-nanny” glitch was patched in June 2009.
Lastly, there’s the infinite baby loop. When a baby is born, you’re asked to name it. Occasionally, the game prompts you again and again, each time generating a new baby. Players could end up with dozens of babies, seemingly without any limit.
6. The Xbox One Password Backdoor
Parents and children frequently share the same console, but many parents don’t want their kids playing certain games. To address this, Microsoft’s Xbox One features an account system, allowing each user to have different access levels. Accounts can be set up for both adults and children, with some accounts requiring a password for login.
In March 2014, a five-year-old discovered a way to bypass his dad’s Xbox One account by entering an incorrect password at the first prompt and then typing nothing but spaces as the second password. When asked how he felt after uncovering the backdoor, he simply said, “I was like, yeah!” and suddenly had access to all of his dad’s games.
His father is a security researcher, so when he saw his son accessing his account, he asked how he had bypassed the password. Upon learning the method, he reported the backdoor to Microsoft, which subsequently patched it. Microsoft even recognized his son, Kristoffer Wilhelm von Hassel, in their official list of “March 2014 Security Researchers.” Some have humorously dubbed Kristoffer the world’s youngest white-hat hacker.
5. Android’s Text Messaging Bug
Imagine sending a private or embarrassing text message to your significant other, only to later discover it was sent to your boss instead. This is exactly what happened due to a bug in Android’s system.
The flaw existed in the default Android Messaging Application. Initially reported to Android developers on June 28, 2010, it wasn’t acknowledged until January 5, 2011. In a forum post, an Android Open Source Project Member (likely a Google employee) wrote:
“Thanks to everyone for your patience as we’ve been investigating these reports . . . some users have said their SMS messages are being sent to the wrong people. It took us a while to reproduce the issue, as it seemed to occur very infrequently. However, we’ve now been able to replicate it and create a fix that we’ll deploy.”
4. Early Release of Prisoners
In 2011, California faced overcrowding in its prisons, prompting a decision to release some low-risk prisoners. Unfortunately, computer errors led to the release of several high-risk individuals. It’s estimated that around 450 inmates with “a high risk for violence” were mistakenly set free, along with over 1,000 others who posed a high risk for drug crimes, property offenses, and other violations.
To make matters worse, the early-release program granted these prisoners “non-revocable parole,” meaning they didn’t have to report to a parole officer. Even worse, no attempt was made to recapture those mistakenly released.
A similar error occurred in Michigan, where a “flaw in computer programming” resulted in the early release of 23 prisoners between 2003 and 2005. These individuals had been incarcerated for crimes like embezzlement, drug trafficking, and check fraud.
3. The Cats of ‘Minecraft’ Fountains
Minecraft is a wildly popular “sandbox” video game, especially loved by kids. It lets players build nearly anything, from intricate machines to whole fictional cities, with virtually no limitations.
It’s nearly impossible to predict the oddities players will come up with in this open-ended game. One of the funniest and most absurd creations is an infinite waterfall of cats tumbling from the top of a stone pillar.
In Minecraft, one of the animals you can encounter is the ocelot. These creatures can be tamed, and when they are, they transform into cats that will follow you around. Typically, they trail behind you on the ground, but if you get far enough away, they will teleport to catch up. If you're at the top of a tall stone pillar, the cats will appear at the top, wander around, and fall off in an endless stream. (Check out the video at around 1:30 to see it in action.)
2. Bill Gates’s Windows 98 Demo Mishap
Microsoft Windows 95 debuted in August 1995. The Guardian referred to it as 'the world’s first celebrity computer programme.' It was a massive hit, selling 40 million copies within its first year. But would Windows 98, its successor, surpass that success? The world would get a preview at the 1998 COMDEX convention.
At that time, COMDEX was a massive computer trade show where all the tech reporters gathered to see the newest innovations in hardware and software. Microsoft took advantage of the 1998 Spring COMDEX to showcase their new beta version of Windows 98. The demonstration was led by Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates and Microsoft employee Chris Capossela. The event was broadcast live on CNN.
The demonstration began smoothly, but when it was time to show off Windows 98’s improved “Plug and Play” feature, things took a turn. The team plugged a scanner into the computer, expecting Windows 98 to automatically detect and configure it. Instead, the system crashed, displaying the infamous Blue Screen of Death, a clear sign of a critical system error. The audience erupted in laughter, and Gates tried to recover, joking, 'That must be why we’re not shipping Windows 98 yet.'
1. The $90 Million Power Bill
Nigel and Linda Brotherton from Lancashire, England recently changed their electricity provider from Scottish Power to Npower. Their first bill from Npower came with a shocking message: 'Your monthly payment has increased from £87.00 to £53,480,062.00'—roughly $90 million USD.
So what went wrong? After the switch to Npower, 'a man was sent round to read their meter.' When he entered a reading of 'zero,' Npower’s system mistakenly assumed the meter dials had completed a full cycle and generated the massive bill. Of course, computers don’t make assumptions—they simply run the code. Whoever programmed Npower's software never accounted for the possibility that a manual reset of the meter reading to 'zero' could occur.
In response to the whole fiasco, Nigel humorously commented, 'It’s a good job they didn’t actually try to take all that money from my bank account. Not only would it have blown my overdraft limit, but it could have brought down the bank.'
