What were you reading in 2013?

What were you reading in 2013? Photo: iStock

Photoshop blunders by Iran and North Korea, a worker outsourcing his job to China and a man questioning a female in a cafe over her video gaming credentials — which ended up spectacularly backfiring when she revealed that she was a technology and games journalist — were just some of the most popular Technology and Digital Life stories on Fairfax Media's main masthead websites this year. Keep an eye out for a separate list of the top IT Pro stories that will be published soon.

A number of science stories — including the discovery of the world’s oldest fossils in Western Australia, the analysis of a bizarre, tiny skeleton that has left scientists baffled, and a meteor shower over Russia that resulted in damage to buildings — also accounted for a number of top stories.

You can reread them, or enjoy them for the first time, by following the links.

Doctored? ... the image of the jet released by an Iranian state news agency.

Hit: Photoshop fails were popular with readers in 2013. Photo: Khouz News

1. Iran's 'laughable' fighter jet caught out in Photoshop blunder

When Iran was attempting to prove its stealth fighter jet credentials on the world stage by distributing an image of it flying over a mountain that was later shown to be manipulated, it probably didn't know that an internet sleuth from its own country would uncover the real truth. The story began to go viral when The Wire, a US publication, wrote an article about the blogger's findings. It wasn't the first time this year Iran was accused of trying to trick people though: in January it claimed to have successfully sent a monkey into space in a rocket. That announcement was accused of being faked as photographs of the monkey before and after launch showed two clearly different animals.

2. Software developer 'Bob' outsources own job to China and whiles away shifts on cat videos

The story of a computer programmer from US telecommunications company Verizon who was sacked for outsourcing his job overseas had many readers divided in the article's comments over whether he should have been fired at all. Some readers argued companies that outsource thousands of Australian jobs overseas aren't disciplined, so why should he be. The story revealed that a typical work day involved the man coming in at the start of the day to watch cat videos on YouTube and read posts on the social news sharing website Reddit. He then took lunch and came back to browse Facebook and LinkedIn before sending an update email to management and going home.

3. North Koreans send Photoshop army into battle

Iran wasn't the only one getting in on the Photoshop action this year. North Korea was at it too. In March it was caught doctoring a photograph to double the number of hovercraft in a military exercise as part of its increasingly aggressive propaganda campaign. The picture, which media had picked up from North Korea's Korean Central News Agency, showed vessels with the same give-away shine on the front, moving through the water at an identical angle and throwing up spray that had been clumsily altered. News agencies eventually killed the distribution of the photograph with Agence France Presse stating "excessive digital alteration" had taken place.

4. How hackers can switch on your webcam and control your computer

A story that profiled an Australian teen who was one of the many taking advantage of a malicious piece of software known as Remote Administration Tools (RATs), which can be used to switch on your webcam and control your computer without your knowledge, was very popular among readers in April. The boy, 17, from Wauchope on NSW's mid-north coast, became involved when he was 14 years old and was hacked himself, but said he was no longer involved because he became bored.

5. Ultimate revenge: 'I saw his face crumble'

When a strange man in a Sydney cafe dared to suggest Rae Johnston knew nothing of gaming, she had the last laugh. While the technology and games journalist was waiting to collect her coffee, the man noticed she was wearing a T-shirt stamped with the title of the popular video game Bioshock Infinite and questioned her credentials, saying "I bet you haven't even played". It turned out that Johnston was well versed with the game and that the man, according to her, wasn't. In an attempt to ruin his time with the game, she rattled off the ending to him. "While I was speaking to him I saw his face crumble and I could tell instantly that he hadn't played it," Johnston said.

6. Why you should deactivate your Facebook account

Facebook is addictive and not having an account on it can ruin your real world social life and keep you out of the loop. So when an article describing when and why you might want to deactivate your account was published, readers raced to read it and shared it over 1800 times... on Facebook. The irony. 

7. Gasps as archaeologists reveal brutal death of Richard III

The King of England between 1452 and 1485, Richard III was the last English king to fall in battle, and researchers revealed how he died for the first time earlier this year after uncovering his body under a council car park in Leicester in the UK.

8. 'I will always know the password': mother gives son an iPhone for Christmas along with 18-point contract

The story of a mum giving her son an iPhone with an 18-point contract, which included telling him not to take pictures of his private parts and silencing it when in public, went viral after the mother posted the contract on the Huffington Post

9. Time to kill the email sign-off

In an opinion piece in March it was argued that email signatures should no longer be used as they can be awkward and taken the wrong way. "After 10 or 15 more 'Regards' of varying magnitudes, I could take no more," the writer opined. "I finally realised the ridiculousness of spending even one second thinking about the totally unnecessary words that we tack on to the end of emails. And I came to the following conclusion: It's time to eliminate email sign-offs completely. Henceforth, I do not want - nay, I will not accept - any manner of regards. Nor will I offer any. And I urge you to do the same."

10. Bizarre skeleton leaves UFO hunters and scientists baffled

The re-examination by a Stanford University scientist of a bizarre, tiny skeleton found more than 10 years ago should have put to rest doubts about what species it belonged to. The scientist's research found that it was human, but that didn't seem to stop UFO hunters from believing otherwise.

The rest:

11. Meteor shower over Russia sees meteorites hit Earth

12. Sergey Brin love quadrangle blamed for Google executive's sudden departure

13. Why I cover my iPhone and laptop camera and why you should too

14. Teen's multimillion-dollar Yahoo! payday before 18th birthday

15. Iran's new stealth fighter jet under fire from critics

16. Planet's oldest fossils found in Pilbara, experts say

17. Apple unveils music streaming, updates operating systems

18. Gianna, 14, discovers iPad 2 heart risk

19. Cheap iOS 7 data calls a threat to telcos

20. Australian surgeon sues Google over 'bankrupt' auto-complete