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After the Hype: Technologies That Never Lived Up to Their Promise

by Caleb Johnson on November 15, 2009 at 12:20 PM

The hype machine is a cruel, cruel beast. It builds us up, only to let us down. For every piece of technology that's taken off, there's another handful that failed to live up to the buzz. To honor these fallen ideas, CNET UK has compiled a "Whatever Happened to..." list of the past's most remarkably unremarkable tech.

Remember Sony's MiniDisc? Yes, the colorful plastic cartridge promised that it would become the best, most portable way to listen to music. Well, it didn't. Blame the MP3, if you like. Or go further back, to Apple's LISA. The bulky $10,000 computer was one of the first to use a graphical interface, but it never took off, either. On the bright side, Apple did learn from its mistakes, and certainly knows how to push product these days. There's also the doomed Amstrad Emailer, which arrived about five years too late, and Motorola's Rokr E1, which was promptly owned by the iPhone. Although it's not included on CNET's list, we couldn't go without mentioning Sega's Dreamcast console. We still shed a tear when thinking about what might've been if gamers had only supported the platform.

It's fun to reminisce, but in most cases, we're better off without these failed technologies. Don't believe us? Trade in your iPod for a MiniDisc player, or your iPhone for a Rokr -- just for a day. [From: CNET UK]

Tags: apple, cellphone, computer, failure, hype, list, microsoft, sony, technology, top

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