The 50 Worst Fails in Tech History

[beema]

Ok, the more I read through this list, the more I am convinced that the list itself is a giant FAIL.

AOL is #20? Seriously? AOL was the most dominating & successful ISP in the early-mid 90's. I remember when I was a kid you pretty much felt like a loser if you used anything other than AOL. It was ridiculously successful and the company became big enough to buy goddamned TIME WARNER. I mean come on.

They also have a product on the list that came out LESS THAN A MONTH AGO (the blackberry tablet). I mean, this is an all-time fail list, and they are already putting brand new products that have barely been market-tested on it? Including something like that on this list en lieu of say, the Laser Disc, is completely absurd.

Also wouldn't consider the Segway a fail, at least not in this city. As much as I'd like to see that thing abolished from the face of the Earth, it's pretty widely used in DC. The DC Park Police and Capitol police use them all the time (if you land a govt. supply contract like that, it's a big deal), and tourist groups use them in droves. They are stupid as hell, but not a fail.

Add to that the "gameboy" thing, numerous other typos and errors. Bleh...

I don't think I'll ever be visiting Complex again.

 

[similar.squirrel]

Makes you wonder about the people who design this stuff.

 

[Evil Alpaca]

The only real kick I got out of this list was #3. Although a device for smelling the internet is one of the most pointless and random inventions of modern tech, I still kinda want to see it. It would be great for the novelty of forum posts. Your argument is not only invalid but smells terrible too.

 

[Juliamon]

Strangely enough, KINs are still available, at least through Verizon Wireless. It was on my shortlist back in January when I was looking for a new phone, purely because it had a physical QWERTY. I'd never heard of it before then, though, and I've never seen one in person since. So I can't really argue that it deserves a place on the list, especially since I ended up taking it off my list due to the overemphasis on it being for teens (I was turning 27). Adorable as it was, who are they to dictate what target demo can use their phones?

(I went with an LG Ally instead. No regrets.)

 

[TheMadDoctorsCat]

I'm unhappy to say that I've heard of everything on this list, with the exception of a few of the specific mobile devices and the "smell the Internet" thing. Although seriously, the mind boggles at how badly that could go wrong. The number of times I've mistyped "www.greatesthits.com"... imagine the potential catastrophe there!

 

[Bloodstain]

I don't even want to try out smelling 4chan. Ewwwwww.

 

[Jumwa]

I am so sick of people harping on the DSi XL. It's a godsend for those of us gamers with bad eyesight. I was sick of having to hold up my handhelds to my face or squinting my eyeballs out trying to make out what as on the screen. I also have big hands, and the smaller models tend to cramp them up.

It just makes it much easier for me to read text upon them and play my games.

Finally: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0la5DBtOVNI&feature=feedf

 

[ThreeKneeNick]

Don't like the list, seems like they just randomly listed things that weren't successful or they thought they shouldn't be successful without any particular order.

I want to smell the internet. What kind of a person doesn't want to know what that's like? I want to smell this thread!

And i remember the ads for the Kin from gamespot, they inserted them to video reviews. I didn't get it. I didn't know whether they advertised the "spot" on some exotic phone i didn't recognize, or they advertised a social network... The Microsoft name never appeared in the ads. I found out MONTHS later that the ads were for the phones themselves.

 

[Eri]

DSi XL is not separate console from the DS, just a different version like the difference between PS2 and PS2 Slim or the Xbox 360/ Elite/ Slim. So if the DS is not a failure than the DSi XL can not be a failure.

Yes it can. It was a failure because it made games look worse. That makes it an automatic failure regarldess of anyone who likes it.

I am so sick of people harping on the DSi XL. It's a godsend for those of us gamers with bad eyesight. I was sick of having to hold up my handhelds to my face or squinting my eyeballs out trying to make out what as on the screen. I also have big hands, and the smaller models tend to cramp them up.

It just makes it much easier for me to read text upon them and play my games.

Finally: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0la5DBtOVNI&feature=feedf

That might be true but it doesn't change the fact that ^

snip

How did you play it? Easy, because it didn't look like crap. All the XL managed to do was stretch the picture over a bigger resolution and make it look worse.

 

[KaosuHamoni]

The Play Station Network?

Please, please, please, please, please...

Take your trolling somewhere else?

 

[Rad Party God]

Aside from blatantly calling the DSi a "GameBoy", it was a rather good list, although much was already said by an earlier list, I don't remember wich site posted it, this is pretty much an updated list.

 

[Baldr]

DSi XL is not separate console from the DS, just a different version like the difference between PS2 and PS2 Slim or the Xbox 360/ Elite/ Slim. So if the DS is not a failure than the DSi XL can not be a failure.

Yes it can. It was a failure because it made games look worse. That makes it an automatic failure regarldess of anyone who likes it.

You missed my entire point.

 

[Mute52]

I'm surprised they didn't have the Slot Media (SM) players.
They were like SD cards for your music player, MP3 players were already out, i don't think anybody bought those.

 

[Danceofmasks]

"Kids use tech with less features than adults do!"

Really? That's the dumbest notion. Ever.

 

[hooksashands]

In the context of a sentence

Shit, sorry for the link in the article heading directly to the number-one fail - I've edited things so future readers won't get slapped in the face with it. So don't spoil it for them!

And no, "fail" is not a noun. I realize this. But that's how it works as part of the internet lexicon and so that's what we're going with. Actually, that's what Complex is going with. Take it up with them if you don't like it.

"Fail" is a noun.

fail n. 1 failure -- usually used in the phrase "without fail;" 2 a failure (as by a security dealer) to deliver or receive securities within a prescribed period after purchase or sale

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/fail

In order for it to be a noun, it has to be written in proper context. For instance, 'Without fail' or 'Fail-proof'. The article writer is using it as a plural, whereas that dictionary link is describing 'Fail' as a singular noun. In other words: No, 'Fails' is a verb. The right usage would be 'Failures'.

 

[JDKJ]

In the context of a sentence

Shit, sorry for the link in the article heading directly to the number-one fail - I've edited things so future readers won't get slapped in the face with it. So don't spoil it for them!

And no, "fail" is not a noun. I realize this. But that's how it works as part of the internet lexicon and so that's what we're going with. Actually, that's what Complex is going with. Take it up with them if you don't like it.

"Fail" is a noun.

fail n. 1 failure -- usually used in the phrase "without fail;" 2 a failure (as by a security dealer) to deliver or receive securities within a prescribed period after purchase or sale

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/fail

In order for it to be a noun, it has to be written in proper context. For instance, 'Without fail' or 'Fail-proof'. The article writer is using it as a plural, whereas that dictionary link is describing 'Fail' as a singular noun. In other words: No, 'Fails' is a verb. The right usage would be 'Failures'.

What are you talking about?! If we start from the indisputable premise that "fail" is a noun, then what is the plural of that noun? I'd imagine it is "fails."

And is in: It's 5:00PM and I haven't yet received delivery of the XYZ stock from my broker. That makes three fails this month.

If I can correctly speak of "three fails this month," then it stands to reason that I can also correctly speak of "fifty fails this month" and "the worst fifty fails this month" and "the worst fifty fails in the history of mankind."

 

[Gottesstrafe]

What, no mention of the 3DO Interactive Multiplayer? The 1993 console produced by Panasonic that cost $699.95 at launch? The top-of-the-line, host of cutting-edge technologies (i.e. like the innovative decision to only include one controller port per console, multiplayer requiring another controller to be attached to the first controller) console that would blow Nintendo and Sega out of the water? No?

Never mind.

 

[Taxman1]

I own a zune. It works, I don't expect any more from it.

 

[Dr. Crawver]

that was a fun list to read