Gadgetory

welcome to see that top five for each time we meet we count down another hot cnet list I'm Tom Merritt now while ago cnet blogger Steve tobik compiled the list of the top technology flops we must learn from history he points out so let's count down the top-5 tech flops at number five head-up displays yes they use these in airplanes but computer monitors of all kinds were supposed to be revolutionized by these cool looking futuristic information delivery systems turns out some cars have these have you seen one with those cuz i have it coming in to number four pen computing I remember as early as the mid 80s the light pen was going to rid us of keyboards how's that pen in her face working for you Bucky I know tablet PCs exist but again how many of you use one be honest up to number three information appliances now during the late 1990s the internet was poised to infest everything yet throw away some garbage and then the garbage can would tell the fridge what to order from Webvan and then you could use your spot watch to tell if they're late when check scores to sliding in at number two speech recognition forget like pens we're supposed to be able to just talk to everything by now I'm granted this one is making progress so it might unlock but for now windows vista and telephone support aside we're not where Star Trek thought we'd be before we get to number one let's check in on the back half of the list admit it in 1985 sport in your hot new armitron you never thought you'd hear a ticking watch again did you all right let's get to our number one the biggest tech flop so far at number one it's virtual reality a mean flop this is amazing it's like I'm in a whole other world except it's not plugged in and I made it myself you know I suppose second life in World of Warcraft or the first signs that this technology might also unlock but that's not really what we mean we were supposed to put on weird visors and get lost in the war indistinguishable from our own it was supposed to become a horrible social problem that would wreck your life you know like in strange day starting ray Fiennes well that's it for this edition of CNN top 5 as Steve points out in his blog post some of these flops still have a shot so don't give up on him yet scientists I'm Tom Merritt see you in the future yeah I'm already there