In 1948, the Tucker sedan introduced a host of technical innovations to the automobile world, including disc brakes, seat belts, fuel injection, and a padded dashboard. But it wasn't enough to make Tucker into the next General Motors; a host of technical and legal problems ensured that only a handful of cars would be built before the company collapsed.
In more recent decades, the tech industry has seen the rise of products and services that are similarly ahead of their time. Some of them represent great ideas that couldn't really be implemented well with contemporary technology; others are brilliant plans that weren't turned into viable businesses by the first person or group to come up with them. All of them flopped, but all of them also influenced the industry. This list should serve as a warning to those who think that being the first to think of something will lead to any easy road to success.
I still have my Newton, as well as a US Robotics Pilot (pre Palm), my Palm III . . .
The trouble with being an early adopter as well as a geek is that sometimes I end up with technolgical curiosities for my future Museum of Dead Tech.
Thanks for the article.
by frostee (not verified) on 10/26/09 at 4:54 pm |reply
Newtonian Antics
I still have my Newton, too—a MessagePad 100 (which i bought on clearance for $180, around 1995). I didn't have much trouble with the handwriting recognition. It learned to read my writing; i learned to break nasty habits like letting letters touch. I still prefer its method of writing words where you want them to appear, over the Palm's letter area weirdness.
by überRegenbogen (not verified) on 11/10/09 at 1:57 am |reply
Why the dat deck was unpopular
It's because the record companies behind the RIAA facade kept them from being allowed in the US via political BS so that by the time they were available, it was passe.
by Baldguy (not verified) on 11/16/09 at 1:45 pm |reply
Sidekick: The Good News & the Bad News Either way you look at it Microsoft Data Center management did not follow standards or best practices in this failure. In which case it makes me wonder more about the outsourcing of corporate data much less personal data.
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I still have my Newton, as
I still have my Newton, as well as a US Robotics Pilot (pre Palm), my Palm III . . .The trouble with being an early adopter as well as a geek is that sometimes I end up with technolgical curiosities for my future Museum of Dead Tech.
Thanks for the article.
Newtonian Antics
I still have my Newton, too—a MessagePad 100 (which i bought on clearance for $180, around 1995). I didn't have much trouble with the handwriting recognition. It learned to read my writing; i learned to break nasty habits like letting letters touch. I still prefer its method of writing words where you want them to appear, over the Palm's letter area weirdness.Why the dat deck was unpopular
It's because the record companies behind the RIAA facade kept them from being allowed in the US via political BS so that by the time they were available, it was passe.