Monday, October 27, 2014

Top 10 Worst Inventions

Original source : http://realitypod.com
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.

No 10. New Coke
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~

No comments:

Post a Comment