Posted : September 2010
Author : Anonyzious
No matter who you are there are some things that you simply
cannot ignore, some due to their elegance and productivity and some due to the
mind-numbing and logic-defying idea behind their very creation. Today, we take
a look at the later; 10 worst inventions of all.
On April 23, 1985, Coca-Cola Company announced the
scrapping of their original coke formula in favor of the newer, sweeter
version. This was perhaps the greatest marketing blunder in history, as
Coca-Cola reverted to the previous formula in just three months after being
bogged down by an avalanche of phone calls and thousands of letters from the
fans. Eventually after the restoration of Coke “Classic”, Coca-Cola resumed its
normal duties as America’s
dominant soda company.
No 9. Foursquare
This next step in social networking allows you to use your
phone’s GPS to broadcast your address. This is just one more step in virtual
living. It currently has a million users, but surely many more will come to
make their lives much more “social” and devoid of any physical activity and
broadcasting your current address is just fantastic, more so for someone with
nefarious intentions.
No 8. Segway
Some say that Dean Kamen, the inventor of Segway, has done
something for America
what Henry Ford did in 1903. But seriously, riding a Segway always looks nerdy,
in a bad way and it never brought the revolution in transportation that it
promised. It’s sales were way below what Kamen had predicted. There is a tragic twist to this story: in 2010 Segway Inc.’s
owner, James “Jimi” Heselden died from injuries apparently sustained
falling from a cliff whilst riding a Segway.
No 7. Pet Spa
A washer and dryer for your pet, I mean, seriously? If your
lazy enough to keep a pet and not able wash it, than this is for you.
No 6. Pay toilets
Pay-toilets were abolished in America
in the mid 1970s, but surprisingly New
York had its first pay-toilet in 2008. It granted you
15 minutes of privacy for 25 cents; that’s 24 dollars a day. The best thing
with this New York
toilet was that after the 15 minutes were over, its door would automatically
open, exposing the guests inside.
No 5. Leaded gasoline
Although, leaded gasoline was phased out in 1968, but for
nearly 60 years the dangers of the element lead were ignored by the oil companies.
Starting in 1920s, petrol, as we know it, contained the substance tetraethyl
lead which boosted octane ratings and produced better engine performances than
unleaded gasoline. Eventually, EPA, after its 25-year struggle phased out
leaded gasoline in 1968.
No 4. Japan
Smile Checks
In 2009, the Japanese Keihin Electric Express
Railway started morning smile checks. Their employees were subjected to a
software which would rate their smile on a scale of 0 to 100. The employees
also had to carry an image of their ideal smile to help them get on track in
face of any depressing situation. Truly mind-bending.
No 3. Microsoft Bob
This really is a great contender for the worst program ever
created. In 1995, Microsoft released “Bob”; a big smiley face wearing glasses
intended to replace Windows 3.1 and Windows 95’s desktop with a more
user-friendly interface. It turned out to be a huge failure. Reasons can range
from its huge price tag ($100) and high system requirement (a 486 with 8MB of
RAM, in 1995!) to its overly cute presentation.
No 2. Phone Fingers
These ugly-looking latex phone fingers were intended to help
you protect your precious iPhone from disgraceful finger prints. They were
available in pink, white, black and blue. Even with a price less than 10 Euros,
it really was simply absurd to wear these.
No 1. Spam E-mail
Spam e-mails cost businesses $100 billion in 2007! Spam
e-mails inflict substantial damage to the ISPs and the ISPs have filed various
lawsuits against spammers again and again, only to win and never recover
damages. So, spam is our number 1 worst invention ever.
~Blog Admin~
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