Time's top ten tech failures of the last decade

[DGuller]

It's probably a "Not in Norway/Europe" thing.
Landlines are just as cheap, since the threat of IP telephones brought the prices down in a very competitive market. Yes, we have those too. 

Here in a civilized world, landlines are at least twice as expensive as VoIP, and that's just for local calls.  Part of the reason is that they have a lot of taxes and fees in their bill, which gives them a competetive disadvantage.

[DontSayBanana]

They had segway tours in San Fran.  Made even a nerd like me cringe in sympathetic horror to see these tools on Segways and bike helmets with arm and knee pads racing (slowly) around the Wharf.

Also in Philly. On an excursion to the Philadelphia Museum of Art about a year or two ago, we managed to catch a HUGE line of Segways coming up on a tour from Fairmount Park.

[Admiral Yi]

My buddy produced the Dateline NBC segment that announced the Segway to the world.

He was under double secret probation the whole time he was working on it.

[Martim Silva]

Indeed, over here our police force has also adopted the Segway (granted, they have to get off it to actually *catch* somebody, but it's good for the average rounds).

Mall securities also got it, and so did some tourist agencies that give tours of the capital. It *is* kinda useful for people who have to walk a LOT during the day.

It's also not that expensive, and certainly easy to park (take it home with you). I've actually thought of buying a Segway (most people in my workplace did), but I'd like them to be faster. I'll probably buy one when I get older, though.

[DGuller]

Wow, I didn't know it was possible to make a bunch of men with big guns and in big armor look completely emasculated.  They all look like they are either about to take a dump, or have just been kicked in the nads by their Segways.

[Neil]

Segways could become really popular if we ever banned cars.

[Razgovory]

Maybe this be renamed "top ten tech products that aren't making vast amounts of money in the middle of a recession".

[Josquius]

To be sure.  I have a Bluray player, but I don't own a single Bluray disc.  My wife once rented a Bluray movie, but only once.  Why waste the money, when DVD is just as good?  Surely Sony can't be happy with that situation.

Silence! They'll hear you!
With some people any vague indication that DVD is just as good as next gen DVD is utter heresy. I can't see too much difference myself either.

[MadBurgerMaker]

Here in a civilized world, landlines are at least twice as expensive as VoIP, and that's just for local calls.  Part of the reason is that they have a lot of taxes and fees in their bill, which gives them a competetive disadvantage.

My land line home phone service (AT&T) is cheaper than Vonage even with all the taxes and shit.  The long distance part of Vonage would be nice, I guess, if I didn't own a cell phone.

[Neil]

Maybe this be renamed "top ten tech products that aren't making vast amounts of money in the middle of a recession".

Actually, with things like Gateway and Palm on there, which were successful in their day, I'm surprised we don't see Sony Walkman, radio and vacuum tubes on there.

[Scipio]

I have no problems with Vonage.  It's exactly 70% less expensive month to month than comparable land-line service.  A fucking no-brainer, from a business perspective.

[Caliga]

I have no problems with Vonage.  It's exactly 70% less expensive month to month than comparable land-line service.  A fucking no-brainer, from a business perspective.

Yeah, like I said, I have it too.  Princesca has a friend in Vancouver who she calls a couple of times a week.  Our monthly cost for that: $0.

[DontSayBanana]

I'm torn on the Zune entry. I love my Zune; spec-wise, it's awesome, and when I got it, it was definitely more cost-effective for video playback than the equivalent iPod, but it was just plagued by tons and tons of glitches.

[dps]

This isn't a list of the top ten tech failures (though some do belong) but rather tech business project failures.

Yeah, and even that's debatable, as seen by the other posts here. 

A list of tech failures would be stuff that didn't work like it was supposed to. 

So Vista could stay, and you could fill the rest of the list with Chrysler products. 

[jimmy olsen]

Anyway, I think listing youtube was nigh on retarded.

With 100 million users, they will find some way to turn a profit eventually.

There was a story of an analyst that estimated youtube is losing $500 million a year for Google. Google disputed the numbers, but the actual results are not public. If youtube is losing that much, it is a problem.

I call bullshit on said analyst then.... if that's based on some kind of lost profits from people viewing free stuff it's an EPIC Strawman. People do not pay for anything they can get for free. and will take free things they would never in a million years pay for.

anyone who doesn't realize this is trapped in the last century and needs a time machine to get to the present. Good luck.

It was based on the estimated cost of maintaining the site. Apparently keeping a zillion video clips for people to access at any time is quite expensive.

Didn't it take Amazon years and years to become profitable?