The future has always intrigued us. The reason innovation is so exciting is because it tempts us with the possibility of creating the future of our dreams. But sometimes innovators fly too close to the sun, and the end result is a sobering crash landing back to reality.
THE FUTURE IS (NOT) NOW
Consumer robotics is a difficult business because the products are expected to work perfectly and cost almost nothing.
Valkee, the maker of the headset, claimed the technology was able to relieve jet lag, migraines, and combat depression by sending light rays into your brain through your ears.
DivX was a widely hated platform that was hounded to its death by disgruntled consumers who had to buy an expensive DivX player and connect it to their phone line.
The Google TV devices were not user-friendly This hideous Sony remote had 88 separate button.
In the late 1990s in Sweden, someone thought there had to be a better way to pay than cash. And the Swedish banks thought so, too.
In the early 2000s, LEGO was close to bankruptcy with poor management and runaway costs.
The hope was the Power Glove would make virtual reality an actual reality. The actual reality being… it did virtually NOTHING.
“There is only one thing that makes a dream impossible to achieve: the fear of failure.”
Paulo Coelho.
