The self-driving, Thiel-tastic, botnet crazy tech year of 2016

SAN FRANCISCO -- The image was startling, but a look into what could be tech's immediate future. After being ostracized by the tech industry for most of the election year, there sat venture capitalist Peter Thiel, beaming, to the left of President-elect Donald Trump at the Trump Tower Tech summit in mid-December. Silicon Valley's billionaire leaders had disavowed Trump during the campaign, throwing their weight behind rival Hillary Clinton. Only Thiel stumped for the real-estate mogul, and after the tech industry had turned on him for that and his role in Gawker's failure, he was luxuriating in the I-told-you-so moment. Tech tries to get Trump's ear after shunning him during campaign Trump tells tech leaders'There's nobody like you in the world' The display of power portends a roiling year or two in tech.