Geek Weekly: Our top weird tech stories for 29 January

Technology Decisions’ weekly wrap of IT fails, latest tech, new must-have gadgets, ‘computer says no’ moments and more.

Did flight computers lead to crash? Investigators looking into the crash of AirAsia flight QZ8501 are checking the possibility that both Flight Augmentation Computers (FAC) might have failed, suddenly handing manual control to the pilots.

UK tax office faces huge IT problem. The UK’s HM Revenue & Customs service faces an “enormous challenge” in replacing its Aspire IT contract, says the Public Accounts Committee. It says the “HMRC demonstrates little appreciation of the scale of the challenge it faces or the substantial risks to tax collection if the transition fails”. Under new regulations, the IT contract - worth £7.9 billion over the past 10 years - needs to broken up into £100 million lots.

Let’s hear it for the Archies. If you still have some lying around, why not make something useful or decorative out of your old CRTs?

TAFE teachers criticise IT failure. TAFE teachers in NSW’s Illawarra region have moved a vote of no confidence in the state government, following what they say is a major IT failure that has left students unenrolled days before the first term begins. “Teachers do not know what classes, if any, they will be teaching ... many students are concerned that their Centrelink benefits will stop as they can’t demonstrate that they are enrolled in a course,” union representative Robert Long told the Illawarra Mercury.

Thanks for the help. And finally … how many of these have you heard over the years?