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Biggest tech flops of the decade
- Thread starter ToxicAdam
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LegendofJoe
Member
I think MS Surface has more potential applications for businesses rather than regular consumers. I think it could be very useful in a board room setting or a hospital reception where information needs to be processed and transferred quickly from person to person. I'd hesitate to call it a flop just because we have yet to see it gain popularity among the general public. The technology behind has many potential uses outside of what MS has advertised, particularly in conjunction with other emerging technologies (RFID for instance).
Dark Octave
Banned
I bought this on Blu-Ray a year and a half ago for $30 and it doesn't even work right on the PS3.Onix said:I was about to post this ...
... but it appears Nuon hit towards the end of '99. So close!
Neuromancer
Member
Dark Octave said:
My post wasn't about Dragon's Lair, it was about Nuon
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuon
Burai said:
Ya.
Would I be right in assuming that those poo-pooing zip drives never really had to deal with floppy drives? 100MB was mind blowing. Even when CD started coming out, the first ones weren't writeable.
When USB keys were introduced, I knew they were going to be come the de facto standard for portable digital data. So sweet. Can't believe we're now typically walking around with 8-16GB on your keychain. More if you really want.
Onix said:
Amen.
While we're on the topic, I can't help but feel that the new iPod shuffle without integrated controls will be failure unless they incorporate touch controls onto the surface in the next iteration (that would make it go to actually awesome, and they can have it be like an improving design). It's like Apple have gone one step too far in the minimalisation. Personally, I like the design for what it is, but I see SO many returned 3rd gen shuffles.
thesoapster
Member
Zhund0r said:
Yeah, I'd have to go along with that. Vista's launch was so horribly marred by bad publicity (that and it's a fucking pig of an OS, and actually feels that way).
Bob Loblaw
Banned
sony rolly
D
Deleted member 22576
Unconfirmed Member
The ROKR was fuckawesome.rezuth said:
My buddy had one, it was so badass.
Phantast2k
Member
This.nightez said:
It's also a very valuable/cheap solution in applied robotics/artificial intelligence.
Idiots.
NewGamePlus
Member
GodfatherX
Member
i know a lot of people that had Zip drives
talisayNon
Member
Kentpaul said:
this fuk rule. fuk haters. brazil ninja skills fuk great
Facebook Beacon (2007)
Beacon was a part of Facebook's advertisement system that sent data from external websites to Facebook, ostensibly for the purpose of allowing targeted advertisements and allowing users to share their activities with their friends. Certain activities on partner sites were published to a user's News Feed. Beacon was launched on November 6, 2007 with 44 partner websites.[1] The controversial service, which became the target of a class action lawsuit, was shut down in September 2009.
Cre8txt Keyboard (2007)
This tiny keyboard lets you type on a PC as you would on a mobile phone. Yes! No longer do you have to reach for that convenient "e" button - you can press the 3 key twice instead.
Beacon was a part of Facebook's advertisement system that sent data from external websites to Facebook, ostensibly for the purpose of allowing targeted advertisements and allowing users to share their activities with their friends. Certain activities on partner sites were published to a user's News Feed. Beacon was launched on November 6, 2007 with 44 partner websites.[1] The controversial service, which became the target of a class action lawsuit, was shut down in September 2009.
Cre8txt Keyboard (2007)
This tiny keyboard lets you type on a PC as you would on a mobile phone. Yes! No longer do you have to reach for that convenient "e" button - you can press the 3 key twice instead.
CueCat (1999-2001)
A device created for no existing demand. You could scan a barcode from a magazine and it would take you to the products webpage.
late 2000, advertisements containing CueCat barcodes briefly appeared in some high-circulation U.S. mass-market periodicals, notably Parade magazine, Forbes magazine and Wired magazine. For a time, RadioShack published catalogs containing these barcodes, and even distributed CueCat devices at no charge. CueCats were also bulk mailed (unsolicited) to certain mailing lists, such as subscribers of technology magazines, notably Wired magazine. For roughly a year, starting in October 2000, The Dallas Morning News and other Belo-owned newspapers added the barcodes next to major articles (Belo had invested in Digital Convergence).
edit: whew, that was a close one.
goldenticket
Member
Espn phone. They invested 150 million. They needed 500,000 subscibers to break even they got about 30,000 before killing it. A total failure
fatigues_gasolini
Member
My ex girlfriend used to call her dvd-recorder a DVR. It really annoyed me.
ClosingADoor
Member
thesoapster said:
I still don't get the hate. And I don't think you can call it a flop. There are tens if not hundreds of millions PCs running Vista.
worldrunover said:
LOL I had to use these things in college. Only 100MB and there were different ones formatted for PC and Mac. Thank God for the USB thumb drive!
Zip drives weren't a flop. IOMEGA made a fuckload of money off of them they just became outdated as hard drives and flash memory prices came down.
Now the Jazz drive? That was a flop.
I was a huge fan of Vista. The only issue I had with the transition from an XP PC was that my sound card stopped working. I can't believe how much influence the media has on public perception. Half of the complaints I heard were from people who had never seen or used the stupid thing.
I always find these lists funny because they attach no monetary value to the "failures"
DVD recorders are actually hugely successful in Japan but they are hyrbid DVRs effectively.
In terms of money spent the biggest failures this decade have been Vista, PS3 and HD-DVD and Ngage. Vista was a failure because corporate did not upgrade, not because of the petty squabbles on the internets. PS3 is a failure because...because it was in so many ways what the PS2 wasn't. HD-DVD, never stood a chance from the beginning and at no-point during the ridiculous war did it have a chance of winning. Ngage lol.
The rest of the OP list is comical because the investment behind those technologies is so minor that they are essentially irrelevant.
DVD recorders are actually hugely successful in Japan but they are hyrbid DVRs effectively.
In terms of money spent the biggest failures this decade have been Vista, PS3 and HD-DVD and Ngage. Vista was a failure because corporate did not upgrade, not because of the petty squabbles on the internets. PS3 is a failure because...because it was in so many ways what the PS2 wasn't. HD-DVD, never stood a chance from the beginning and at no-point during the ridiculous war did it have a chance of winning. Ngage lol.
The rest of the OP list is comical because the investment behind those technologies is so minor that they are essentially irrelevant.
Nabs
Member
gofreak said:Next up:Google Wave
Don't shoot me!
The gap between media hype and apparent user feedback has been interesting. Maybe it's just a case of the critics speaking loudest, but I think it perhaps has a major 'simplicity' problem.
the only problem w/ wave is that a shit ton of people got invites who have no use for it.
Anton Sugar
Member
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