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We love freakish ideas and companies that take endangerment — that , after all , is how scientific discipline and engineering science progress . But with every succeeder come a dozen failures and that ’s what this lean celebrates .
These are some melodic theme that could have been the next bad thing : concept that got game but ultimately failed to take flight of steps . Some were unlucky with timing . Some appear to forget entirely to consider what consumer might actually want . And some , a handful , may yet have their moment of winner .
So here ’s a love letter of the alphabet to the Betamaxes and automaton butlers of this humankind — not that either of those made the cut . To the technologies that could have made it , were it not for that most fickle of schoolmistress : us , the buying populace .
Bluetooth face masks
CES , the world ’s grownup consumer engineering show , contract position in Las Vegas every January . In 2022 , you could n’t take the air through its halls without seeing technical school aimed at slim down the spreading of viruses . Several caller decide that Bluetooth face masks were the future , allowing multitude to take calls , heed to music and outride good from contagion . Razer ’s Zephyr is perhaps the most famous instance , complete with RGB light , speaker unit and replaceable filters , all for $ 99 . But like every other Bluetooth face mask , it ’s long since disappeared from cut-rate sale .
Hoverboards
It ’s not that hoverboards ca n’t be made . The mental picture here is real , taken at a Formula 1 wash in 2022 , and around a ten ago you could even grease one’s palms hoverboards from ARCA Space and Hendo . But then , much like a Live Science author if they ever judge to tantalize one , do the clangor . hoi polloi love the idea of a true hoverboard — especially anyone who get up determine Back To The Future — but when the world is a few proceedings of flight clock time and an outlay measure in five figure , hoverboards remain more McGrounded than McFly .
Steam Machines
Back in 2013 , Valve — the society behind the Steam gaming platform — thought it had spotted a gap in the cabinet market . Rather than dally a limited number of expensive games on the Xbox and PlayStation , it would give gamers an open platform to play any Steam - buy game . But it took two years to get from promulgation to computer hardware , and even with big - name support from Alienware and Gigabyte , total sales of Steam Machines never even reached a million . To put that into position , Sony ship 87 million PlayStation 3 units .
Cat translators
Back in 2003 , a Nipponese house launched Meowlingual , a cat - translation machine . Point it at your quat ’s case , have it take heed to the sounds he or she was making , and it would reveal your pet ’s current temper via an on - screen door presentation and a poor phrase ( think " I ’m athirst " ) . And here ’s the science bit : the equipment used " voiceprint analytic thinking technology uprise at Tokyo ’s distinguish Japan Acoustic Laboratory , " according to anarticle in The Guardian . Meowlingual went on sales agreement in the U.S. and Japan for around $ 75 , but we ’re disconsolate to say it ’s no longer useable .
Monowheels
Why sit on a wheel when you may ride inside one ? And then apply an engine — standardised to a minibike ’s — that can go around the steering wheel around you , to contain you along at swiftness of up to 61 miles ( 98 kilometre ) per hour , the current populace record ? One ripe grounds is that direction and braking are a challenge , with riders often using their feet , but ever since thefirst design in 1869the musical theme has systematically caught people ’s imagination . Albeit more for fun and exhibitionism than as a executable means of transport .
Robotic sheep shearers
Australia dreaming of electronically sheared sheep . With a collective wad numbering 75 million , its universities and industriousness body have been investigating ways to automate the cognitive process since the mid-1980s . There ’s even aYouTube videoshowing one such paradigm , from the University of Western Australia , in action . But we admonish you , it expect pretty worrisome compared to manual sheep shearing . Robotic sheep shearers are still being worked on , but the old way continues to dominate — and probably will for decade to occur .
AR glasses
A clarification : we ’re not putting smart glasses on this list . We really like the late designs fromRay - Banand Amazon . rather , we ’re talking about true augmented reality eyeglasses that need to overlay image across your vision , perhaps to give you directions or enjoin you all about the tourer attraction you ’re gaze at . Because as Google Glass ’s notorious demise showed , the world do n’t like television camera staring at them — and glasses wearers do n’t like frightful electric battery living coupled with bulky , worthless design .
HD DVDs
Remember bout two of Betamax versus VHS ? This sentence it was Toshiba rather than JVC that took on Sony , with both proposing gamy - res replacements for DVD in 2005 . Toshiba ’s HD DVDs initially tripled content to 15 GB , but with the promise that discs would still cultivate on older DVD player . Despite Toshiba ’s collaboration with the movie industry , Sony ’s Blu - ray sweep up to victory thanks to a heavy capacity at launch and because the pop PlayStation 3 included a Blu - ray player as standard . To get the full benefit of HD DVDs , you had to bribe an expensive HD DVD player . By 2008 it was biz over .
Radio newspapers
We endlessly scroll through information on our phones today , but back in the thirties some prosperous Americans could scroll through a radio - cede newspaper each morning . This used radio receiver stations to beam info to local homes overnight , where it would be printed out at an excruciating 15 minutes per varlet . The mind became commercial realism thanks to William Finch and his $ 125 liquidator , but thanks to info exit due to motionless , annoying newspaper publisher jams and the sheer expense involved , the aspiration came to an destruction in 1952 when Finch ’s company went belly-up .
Smelly movies
When television receiver started go far in American homes , moving-picture show studios realize they demand to take action mechanism to revivify plummet dramatics - attending numbers . One solvent : smelly pic ! The core idea was for an olfactory property to stray through the cinema , propelled via fan , to match the on - screen natural process . When Smell - O - Vision debuted in the 1960 movie " Scent of Mystery , " filmgoers were subject to 30 such olfactory property that also served as clue ( spoiler : the killer used a typical cologne ) . But it was expensive to add the system to cinemas , the technology was unreliable and the smells lingered long after the activity .
3D TVs
A prime example of a technology desperately searching for a marketplace rather than lick a problem , 3D TVs were do it by manufacturers but adjoin with spiritlessness by buyers . Why ? Because the number of corking 3D motion picture can be count on one digit , and because people ascertain idiot box to unwind rather than enquire if that ’s a headache construction behind their eye . The technical school is there — John Logie Baird first demonstrated stereoscopic tv back in 1928 — but even when LG , Samsung and Sony flooded tech show CES with 3D TVs in 2010 , sale fall through . It ’s time to accept that 3D tv will never have their day .
The Net PC
Back in the mid-1990s , Intel and Microsoft cooked up an musical theme . They could save businesses money by provide stripped - down microcomputer that were pull off by IT teams and pitch towards basic part tasks . Users could n’t install any supernumerary : the Net PC was a bare , closed beige box engage down by the business they work for . Despite the backing of Acer , Dell , HP and many other swelled names , the idea flopped . The price was simply too high — often more than " real " PCs — and while IT managing director may have have a go at it the musical theme of simple connection box , users most surely did not .
Modular phones
Remember Project Ara ? This was Google ’s effort to create a phone assembled from engine block that could be easily replace over meter — bribe the original phone then promote the processor , memory , television camera or whatever as you desire . It also looked funky . woefully , Project Ara never moved out of concept and into reality , just like the Modu phone before it . There are success tale — theFairphonehas many fans , as does theGerman Shiftphone — but we ’re stay fresh modular headphone in this listing until they break into the true volume market .
Gesture control for computers
To us , the fact we are n’t all using representative recognition and hand gesture to control our computers — an estimate that date back to the seventies — emphasizes just how good keyboards and mice are . Despite huge advance in gesture control over the past two decade , with great work by UltraLeap for illustration , the traditional input signal method remain the most accurate and intuitive . While the Apple Vision Pro has give paw gesture another spike of stake , it ’s no surprisal that one of people ’s biggest complaint about the headset is when trying to enroll text .
Wearable computers
You could argue that wearable computers have happened . We have phones in our pockets and sensing element - pack smart watches on our wrist joint . But that ’s not the concept sold by Xybernaut , which sell several thousand wearable PCs between 1995 and its 2005 demise . Its Mobile Assistant series throng the computing equipment into a charge plate box wear down on the shank , while users strapped a QWERTY keyboard to their wrist and used a one - inch heading - put on display to see what was move on . Xybernaut only sold a few thousand models before it — and the melodic theme — melt into abstruseness .
Microsoft Bob
In the mid-1990s , many struggled to get to grasp with Windows . Microsoft ’s solution : Bob . Rather than a two-dimensional desktop , exploiter would introduce a 3D room where they could select a calendar , an address al-Qur’an , a typewriter , a chequebook and more . But not only did substance abuser find it patronise , Bob was far too demanding for the ironware of the time , and was stop within a year . Still , without Bob , there would be no Comic Sans : designer Vincent Connare create it for the language bubbles , and while the font was n’t cease in time for Bob ’s sack , it still lives on today .
DivX
Why rent a fading VHS video recording when you could corrupt a crisp DivX disc with the same film , in videodisc calibre , for $ 4.50 ? No need to return it : once activated , you had two days to watch the movie and then the disc would be unreadable . Just get rid of it ! American electronics retailer Circuit City put its weight behind the idea in 1998 , and was backed by the major studios , who loved the strict plagiarisation control . woefully , users did n’t wish the expensive players or that the actor had to " telephone home " to authenticate . The possible environmental shock , too , was important . And they won : the format was break in June 1999 .
Flying saucers
skill fable has long inspired veridical - world technology , and it ’s easy to see what kind of movies British designer John West grew up on . In 1975 , he created a real flight saucer , with atomic number 2 to tot up lift and a set of propellers to bear on his invention in the right direction . deplorably , West never got funding to turn his 30 - foot ( 9 cadence ) diameter , radio - controlled prototype into the 200 - foot ( 61 meters ) production theoretical account that he trust would be subject of carrying 10 - ton ( 9 metric tons ) payloads for 1,000 miles ( 1,600 kilometer ) at 100 miles per minute ( 160 kilometer per hour ) , but you’re able to view the image in action onYouTube .
HUDs in motorbike helmets
It seems so obvious : incorporate a heads - up display into a motorbike helmet to show directions and speed so that rider need never take their eyes off the road . Indiegogo campaigns raised over $ 2.5 million for Skully Helmets by 2015 , and Intel put in a further $ 1 million , but few helmet ever shipped . Meanwhile , BMW ’s attempt never made it out of the concept degree . Instead , it now sells its ConnectedRide smart glasses for $ 750 while Nuviz offers a $ 699 standalone HUD . True HUDs in motorbike helmets seem destined to never happen .
VR movies
VR movies were once the Next Big Thing , with looker to the full engulf in the activity when observe on their VR headsets . California technical school startup Jaunt evoke around $ 100 million from investors by 2015 , with its 24 - lens system orb camera conquer the action from gigs and sporting issue , and movie maker also capable to create their own movie . Disney even created a VR version of Coco . But not enough people bought VR headset , and not enough of those people wanted to see films on them — leading Jaunt to declare failure and take the nascent VR film industry with it .
Internet fridges
We are willing to hold that golem butlers may never appear , but when manufacturers promised us dream home plate where fridges would mechanically rate food as necessitate , the approximation matte truly plausible . unhappily , the realism is rather more mundane . While all the large companies deal smart electric refrigerator that monitor temperature and have vacation modes to save zip — and some extend touching screens that can exhibit formula and show you what ’s inside the fridge without you start the threshold — we remain a long way from live on the amply automatise spirit of The Jetsons .
Space elevators
The idea of a structure stretching out into space dates to 1895 , when Russian rocket scientist Konstantin Tsiolkovsky speculated that this could be the way to set in motion items into space . The conception edge closer to world when , in 2000 , aNASAreportset out contingent of a structureusing " high - durability carbon nanotube materials " that would be tether from geostationary Earth orbit ( an altitude of around 22,000 miles , or 36,000 km ) , with crawlers that would put consignment such as orbiter into orbit . While enquiry continues , slowly , we wait the key discovery that might one day make the applied science a reality .
LaserDiscs
Who remembers watching Jaws on a LaserDisc in 1978 ? Long before Sony and Toshiba issue forth along with CD and DVDs , well - heeled Americans could buy a 12 - column inch saucer ( ab initio call DiscoVision ) with data store on both side . It ’s thought that one million U.S. homes included LaserDisc player by 1990 . The format proved even more popular in Japan , but ultimately its eminent price and the inexorable rise of DVD proved LaserDisc ’s unfastening . In 2009 , Pioneer , the long - time angel of LaserDisc , announced it would no longer be earn players .
Teasmades
We will happily admit that the teasmade is stretching the modern definition of a " technology , " but this quintessentially British invention — a bedside clock ( and light ! ) that can make you a newly brewed cupful of tea leaf quick for when you wake up — never quite escaped the British islet . Teasmades were incredibly pop in the U.K. in the fifties and 1960s , and a smattering of models are still available for sale today . We say : do n’t write them off just yet . exchange to coffee , get Starbucks to invest and worldwide domination will soon observe .
Windows RT
think a version of Windows with no protection problems , an visceral touch sensation interface and a rich choice of apps to match the iPad . Well , 12 years after the launch of Windows RT and we ’re still imagining , with the operating system long since retired . Three problem bolt down it . First , software package developers did n’t share Microsoft ’s visual sensation , result its app memory board wasteland . Second , many users despise the tile - based user interface . And third , it lacked the great selling point of Windows : universal compatibility with software system .
Li-Fi
Where Wi - Fi uses radio sign to transmit information , Li - Fi uses light-emitting diode light : a receiving system in a phone or laptop computer detects the intensity from an light-emitting diode bulb , which can be modulated billion of clip per second , and turns that entropy into data . One vantage over Wi - Fi is that illumination does n’t leak out of a room , so it ’s far more secure , which is one reasonthe U , S. regular army likes it . But Li - Fi has never discover out of its niche — or at least not yet , withBritish manufacturer pureLiFiclaiming that the engineering is “ balance to redefine connectivity ” at MWC 2024 .
Paper clothing
The idea of paper clothing stretches from second - centuryChinato Japanese kamikos , which were pop from the tenth century right through to the nineteenth . But it was swing 60s America that rebooted the concept , make a peak with the Warhol - exalt Souper Dress in 1967 . Paper habiliment even hit British video screen in 1965 , with science program Tomorrow ’s World telling its viewers that " tomorrow ’s little girl " would wear a paper shirt " idealistic for jotting down bit . " Why the idea depart up in smoke is a mystery .
Internet tablets
Long before the iPad stormed into being , the likes of Nokia and Microsoft kept on trying to sell the conception of internet tablets . These were primarily designed to be windows onto the web , but were then stuff with extra software — think Flash , RSS readers , Skype and internet radio players , to name but a few . The only trouble being that net tablets were rubbish . They were ho-hum , frightful and harry with terrible interface , as producer seemed to prefer long tick boxes of characteristic rather than what people really wanted : usability .
Video phones
From Fritz Lang ’s 1927 masterpiece " Metropolis " to the first ( and best ) " Blade Runner " celluloid , video earphone were a staple of science fabrication in movies for half a 100 . Of course everyone in the time to come would confabulate via video phones give to that one intention ! It made common sense : if we all have audio phones now , we ’ll have video phones in the future , right ? But long before video speech sound as a dedicated twist could take off , along total smartphones — which simply do everything . The closest we now come to video phones is being stuck in endless merging on Zoom .
Handheld PCs
For a while , it seemed that hand-held personal computer would be a Brobdingnagian bang . Atari and HP both launched hand-held devices in 1989 , complete with tiny screens and a keyboard . They flopped . chronicle repeated when Microsoft and Intel failed to sell the world on the idea of their " radical wandering PC " shape factor in 2006 . OQO , a U.S. computer company dedicated to handheld computers , mash with winner but ultimately sank into obscurity . Recent handheld play PCs such as the Asus ROG Ally keep the approximation animated , but users are never quite as keen as the manufacturers .
Luggable computers
In the early eighties , traveling executives dreamed of " luggable " calculator that could check inside a suitcase . All they would need to do was plug it in once they got to their destination . The Osborne 1 was the archetypal luggable , with a five - inch ( 13 centimeters ) display and full - sized keyboard , and the 24 - lbf. ( 11 kilograms ) machine was a bestseller in 1981 . But then along came laptop , full with batteries and LCD screen , and the luggable became history . HP tried to breathe new living into the mind with the Envy Move all - in - one in 2023 , but alas , sales seem rather slow .
Airships
Airships , including German Zeppelins , once battled it out with airplanes for supremacy . Unlike other aeroplane , they could cross oceans without stopping for fuel , while passenger enjoyed a easy , almost noiseless flight of stairs . Unfortunately , as most airships used hydrogen rather than the far less vulgar helium , they had a tendency to go up in flames — most infamously exhibit by the Hindenburg disaster in 1937 . Airships still exist , admit their lesser first cousin blimps , but good luck catch one from New York to London .
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