SWING AND A MISS

Nine Times The 'Next Big Thing' Turned Out To Be A Major Flop

Capitalism insists on trying to make "fetch" happen every few years. Sometimes we get smartphones, but other times we get Quibi.

2 weeks ago · 29.2k reads ·

Google Glass, 3D movies, curved TVs and the like are all prominent residents of the overhyped tech graveyard, but they're not alone. In fact, there's enough goofy junk being fueled by the hubris of man to take up every square inch of this metaphorical cemetery.

Redditor u/swedishplayer97 wanted to know which of the "next big things" ended up vanishing, and the reality is that many flops don't entirely vanish, but they limped along forever in a diminished state.

Regardless, they remain enormous disappointments.

There are more than 8,000 comments on this post, so we've collected only the very best ones for your perusal. Enjoy your feelings of relative success.

Quibi was such a terrible idea, and everybody saw it from a mile away

The original Microsoft Surface was basically just a fancy table

The metaverse is a farce propped up by the ultra rich who read too much Neal Stephenson as kids

NFTs continue to be enjoyed primarily by gamblers and scammers — not normies

Olestra was a fat substitute that ended up having an unfortunate side effect

Turns out, an underpowered Android box was not the best way to play video games

3D printing is an interesting niche, but it was once heralded as a production revolution

The Hyperloop was always a ridiculous 'solution' to our travel problems

LLMs will never deliver on the buck wild promises being made

Want to laugh at even more failed products, check out this similar list from 2021.

Via u/swedishplayer97.

[Image: fauxels]

The Discourse

Nine Times The 'Next Big Thing' Turned Out To Be A Major Flop

Quibi was such a terrible idea, and everybody saw it from a mile away

The original Microsoft Surface was basically just a fancy table

The metaverse is a farce propped up by the ultra rich who read too much Neal Stephenson as kids

NFTs continue to be enjoyed primarily by gamblers and scammers — not normies

Olestra was a fat substitute that ended up having an unfortunate side effect

Turns out, an underpowered Android box was not the best way to play video games

3D printing is an interesting niche, but it was once heralded as a production revolution

The Hyperloop was always a ridiculous 'solution' to our travel problems

LLMs will never deliver on the buck wild promises being made

Comments

The Discourse

Quibi was such a terrible idea, and everybody saw it from a mile away

The original Microsoft Surface was basically just a fancy table

The metaverse is a farce propped up by the ultra rich who read too much Neal Stephenson as kids

NFTs continue to be enjoyed primarily by gamblers and scammers — not normies

Olestra was a fat substitute that ended up having an unfortunate side effect

Turns out, an underpowered Android box was not the best way to play video games

3D printing is an interesting niche, but it was once heralded as a production revolution

The Hyperloop was always a ridiculous 'solution' to our travel problems

LLMs will never deliver on the buck wild promises being made

Comments

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