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Off-Topic Discussion => General Discussion => Topic started by: Kosh on May 27, 2006, 01:43:23 am

Title: Top 25 worst tech products
Post by: Kosh on May 27, 2006, 01:43:23 am
http://www.pcworld.com/news/article/0,aid,125772,pg,8,00.asp


AOL is #1
Title: Re: Top 25 worst tech products
Post by: CP5670 on May 27, 2006, 02:03:51 am
Quote
Fast, big, and highly unreliable, this 75GB hard drive was quickly dubbed the "Deathstar" for its habit of suddenly failing and taking all of your data with it.

About a year after IBM released the Deskstar, users filed a class action suit, alleging that IBM had misled customers about its reliability. IBM denied all liability, but last June it agreed to pay $100 to Deskstar owners whose drives and data had departed their desks and gone on to a celestial reward. Well before that, IBM had washed its hands of the Deathstar, selling its hard drive division to Hitachi in 2002.

hmm, can that still be claimed? I wouldn't mind having an extra $100 in my pocket. :D
Title: Re: Top 25 worst tech products
Post by: Ulala on May 27, 2006, 02:04:46 am
*agrees with list*
Title: Re: Top 25 worst tech products
Post by: WMCoolmon on May 27, 2006, 03:02:45 am
Quote
http://www.pcworld.com/reviews/article/0,aid,125772,pg,2,00.asp#real
THANK YOU.

I actually kind of liked Bob, in its day...
Title: Re: Top 25 worst tech products
Post by: IPAndrews on May 27, 2006, 07:38:06 am
I bet everyone has a pit of kit they'd love to see on that list. Myself I would have nominated my old PC Chilps M577 motherboard. In fact I just lost 10 sanity points saying it's name just then. It's a good list though. Thanks for linking it.
Title: Re: Top 25 worst tech products
Post by: Kosh on May 27, 2006, 08:47:45 am
I'm surprised Netgear wasn't mentioned. Worst...NIC's/hubs.....ever.
Title: Re: Top 25 worst tech products
Post by: Mars on May 27, 2006, 08:54:37 am
AOL is definitly the worst, but the Apple Puck mouse only got dishonorable mention, should've been second.
Title: Re: Top 25 worst tech products
Post by: Clave on May 27, 2006, 10:32:50 am
AOL is awesome.  1989 - 2006? such a long life span, and it's still number one! w00t! go AOL!












go straight to Hell
Title: Re: Top 25 worst tech products
Post by: Kosh on May 27, 2006, 10:42:44 am
I used to call AOL "AOHell" for a good reason.....
Title: Re: Top 25 worst tech products
Post by: Wild Fragaria on May 27, 2006, 10:44:52 am
Don't know if it's a good thing that I have not and do not own any item on the list.  I know for sure that does not give me reasons to complain at the products, but I like complaining at bad products sometimes  :rolleyes:
Title: Re: Top 25 worst tech products
Post by: Kosh on May 27, 2006, 10:50:26 am
I just thought of something, why isn't Packard Bell on the list?
Title: Re: Top 25 worst tech products
Post by: CP5670 on May 27, 2006, 11:16:15 am
I still have that 75GB Deathstar lying around somewhere. It's unreadable now, but if I plug it in it creates an extremely loud, high pitched motor sound that can be heard around the house. It sounds just like a vaccuum cleaner.

I just read this (http://www.engadget.com/2005/06/28/the-ibm-deskstar-75gxp-drama-is-over/) though. I could have gotten my $100 if I had followed these proceedings more closely a year ago, but it's way too late now. :(
Title: Re: Top 25 worst tech products
Post by: aldo_14 on May 27, 2006, 01:24:32 pm
I have a Deskstar of some form in my machine justnow, which has worked perfectly well for years and years.  So it's probably another model.
Title: Re: Top 25 worst tech products
Post by: Mars on May 29, 2006, 02:03:24 am
 :bump: sorry.

I just now saw the wearable DVD player... that has got to be the stupidest idea ever.
Title: Re: Top 25 worst tech products
Post by: Scooby_Doo on May 29, 2006, 02:28:27 am
Zip drive shouldn't really be on that list. One of the best till cd-r's came around.
Title: Re: Top 25 worst tech products
Post by: Sandwich on May 29, 2006, 02:48:18 am
I'd forgotten about Windows ME. Eugh. :shaking:
Title: Re: Top 25 worst tech products
Post by: Mars on May 29, 2006, 02:51:39 am
When I got ME I went back to 98SE within a week.
Title: Re: Top 25 worst tech products
Post by: Shadow0000 on May 29, 2006, 02:55:51 am
Watch out! it has ME, everybody run away before it activates it's self-destruct device !
Title: Re: Top 25 worst tech products
Post by: starfox on May 29, 2006, 03:35:27 am
*Agrees completely*  :nod:
Except maybe Zip-Drive.....
Title: Re: Top 25 worst tech products
Post by: Mars on May 29, 2006, 03:39:09 am
Zip drive might've been okay, if it didn't destroy the disks.
Title: Re: Top 25 worst tech products
Post by: Descenterace on May 29, 2006, 06:10:59 am
Ah yes, the Zip Click of Death.

I'd have to say that none of that list is in the least unexpected.
Title: Re: Top 25 worst tech products
Post by: achtung on May 29, 2006, 01:44:23 pm
Weren't zip drives prone to burning up quite easily?

I know mine did, and my neighbors did.  Mine being internal, his being external.

Pertaining to the article, it's nice to see PCWorld actually making a list that was, probably, bribe free.
Title: Re: Top 25 worst tech products
Post by: Sandwich on May 29, 2006, 02:18:49 pm
I had a Jaz drive once. It died quite rapidly.
Title: Re: Top 25 worst tech products
Post by: Scooby_Doo on May 29, 2006, 03:39:13 pm
They should replace zip drives with floppy's  :D
Look at them wrong and you'll get bad sectors all over the place LOL
Title: Re: Top 25 worst tech products
Post by: Bobboau on May 30, 2006, 05:22:08 am
the problem I had with zip drives was each disk cost ten bucks.
Title: Re: Top 25 worst tech products
Post by: aldo_14 on May 30, 2006, 05:28:53 am
Zip drive was the computing equivalent of the MiniDisc, I guess.
Title: Re: Top 25 worst tech products
Post by: vyper on May 30, 2006, 08:12:25 am
/me still has a zip drive in his tower - tis just not connected to anything. :(

Edit: MiniDisc had potential. Such a shame it was never adopted properly.
Title: Re: Top 25 worst tech products
Post by: aldo_14 on May 30, 2006, 08:35:42 am
/me still has a zip drive in his tower - tis just not connected to anything. :(

Edit: MiniDisc had potential. Such a shame it was never adopted properly.

It was almost immediately superceded by MP3, though; IIRC the 2 use identical compression strategies and everything, so once you could get affordable flash memory there wasn't much point in it.  My hifi actually has an MD slot, which cost good money (on top of the price you'd expect).
Title: Re: Top 25 worst tech products
Post by: Flipside on May 30, 2006, 08:48:31 am
I had a 20 Gig Iomega Zip drive. Thing was too slow to be any real use except during a reformat, but it was, actually, pretty reliable. Totally useless these days, mind.

No-one's come out with any truly stupid tech innovations since Clive Sinclair retired though. I mean, the C5, Heat Sensitive printer-rolls, launching a tape-streamer 2 weeks after Amstrad launch the 6128 with built-in disc drive? For a man who shaped the computing world, he sure had to fire a lot of blanks...

They just don't make 'em like him any more :(
Title: Re: Top 25 worst tech products
Post by: Colonol Dekker on May 30, 2006, 08:58:11 am
Top 5 tech wrongies>
1- Phillips i-CD
2--Sega Mega-CD
3- Sega 32X
4- Ummm? Eurotunnel (gotta keep them pesky frenc out)
5- Dreamcast   That actually had some fun games
5 - Viagra If it doesn't work properly, Thats god/ Darwin giving you a subtle hint
Title: Re: Top 25 worst tech products
Post by: karajorma on May 30, 2006, 09:10:55 am
Sir Clive took a very scattershot approach to research. He just made what he thought was cool without regards as to whether anyone else thought so. The result was that he came up with some dross that no one else would want as well as inventing the pocket calculator and home computer.
Title: Re: Top 25 worst tech products
Post by: aldo_14 on May 30, 2006, 09:12:41 am
Sir Clive took a very scattershot approach to research. He just made what he thought was cool without regards as to whether anyone else thought so. The result was that he came up with some dross that no one else would want as well as inventing the pocket calculator and home computer.
Well, at least he can take heart that all those years after the C5, someone can invent something even worse - the Segway.
Title: Re: Top 25 worst tech products
Post by: Flipside on May 30, 2006, 09:16:09 am
It's sad to see the adverts in computer mags for Sinclair and Son's Mail-Order computer games... How the mighty have fallen :(
Title: Re: Top 25 worst tech products
Post by: Mars on May 30, 2006, 09:18:44 am
See, what I've never understood with the Segway is, if it costs the same as a really good, useful, fuel efficent car, why not just go for the car?
Title: Re: Top 25 worst tech products
Post by: aldo_14 on May 30, 2006, 09:29:59 am
See, what I've never understood with the Segway is, if it costs the same as a really good, useful, fuel efficent car, why not just go for the car?

It's for fat americans too lazy to walk.  Which, I guess, is a growth market.
Title: Re: Top 25 worst tech products
Post by: Colonol Dekker on May 30, 2006, 09:34:34 am
Its THE "growth" market.. :lol:
Title: Re: Top 25 worst tech products
Post by: vyper on May 30, 2006, 09:34:54 am
To quote homer simpson: "I wish I had a dog with a saddle."

The segway comes close.
Title: Re: Top 25 worst tech products
Post by: aldo_14 on May 30, 2006, 09:36:25 am
To quote homer simpson: "I wish I had a dog with a saddle."

The segway comes close.

It was crippled, I presume, by the fact you had to actually stand up to use it.
Title: Re: Top 25 worst tech products
Post by: vyper on May 30, 2006, 09:53:35 am
Indeed. Seeking such power between ones legs really does scream over-compensation...
Title: Re: Top 25 worst tech products
Post by: Black Wolf on May 30, 2006, 10:51:38 am
That said, I forsee the technology behind the segway having some practical use in the future - perhaps in robotics.
Title: Re: Top 25 worst tech products
Post by: aldo_14 on May 30, 2006, 10:52:47 am
That said, I forsee the technology behind the segway having some practical use in the future - perhaps in robotics.

That's all we need, HKs chasing you on 2-mile an hour wheeled pogo sticks.
Title: Re: Top 25 worst tech products
Post by: Colonol Dekker on May 30, 2006, 10:53:25 am
It could happen,......... ;7
Title: Re: Top 25 worst tech products
Post by: brozozo on May 30, 2006, 03:12:09 pm
/me still has a zip drive in his tower - tis just not connected to anything. :(

Edit: MiniDisc had potential. Such a shame it was never adopted properly.

Mine's been sitting on a shelf for about three years. It probably still works. I don't think I've used it more than half a dozen times.
Title: Re: Top 25 worst tech products
Post by: Ace on May 30, 2006, 07:43:02 pm
That said, I forsee the technology behind the segway having some practical use in the future - perhaps in robotics.

That's all we need, HKs chasing you on 2-mile an hour wheeled pogo sticks.

"Halt meatbag! Your squishy organic frame will be blasted as soon as I reach you in four hours on my portable movement device. The end is nigh meatbag!"
Title: Re: Top 25 worst tech products
Post by: ilya on May 30, 2006, 09:05:58 pm
How are we not bothered by all that stuff sloshing around inside?
Title: Re: Top 25 worst tech products
Post by: Mars on May 30, 2006, 09:14:19 pm
Lack of the proper nerves in the proper locations
Title: Re: Top 25 worst tech products
Post by: Ferret on May 30, 2006, 09:24:33 pm
That said, I forsee the technology behind the segway having some practical use in the future - perhaps in robotics.

That's all we need, HKs chasing you on 2-mile an hour wheeled pogo sticks.
I'm so glad my mind suddenly conjured up the right image. :lol:
Title: Re: Top 25 worst tech products
Post by: CmdKewin on May 31, 2006, 12:16:40 pm
Speaking of Zip-Drives... mine lasted a year before dying. That's the main reason I got Cable Internet, back in 2001, since I was using the ZIP for transfering files from my UNI Pc to my Home's one and vice-versa.


But they forgot the most USELESS gadget ever... the Nintendo Power Glove. I've had every single Nintendo console that has come out on the market, but I still haven't found an explanation for that one... hell, I'm even starting to like the Wii name....
Title: Re: Top 25 worst tech products
Post by: Mars on June 01, 2006, 02:24:28 pm
Why did they name it the Wii? It causes so many problems:

"I'm going to go home and play with my Wii!"
"Wanna play with my Wii?"
"I wish my dad would get off my Wii"

Need I prove my point further?
Title: Re: Top 25 worst tech products
Post by: Ghostavo on June 01, 2006, 02:30:29 pm
Speaking of Zip-Drives... mine lasted a year before dying. That's the main reason I got Cable Internet, back in 2001, since I was using the ZIP for transfering files from my UNI Pc to my Home's one and vice-versa.


But they forgot the most USELESS gadget ever... the Nintendo Power Glove. I've had every single Nintendo console that has come out on the market, but I still haven't found an explanation for that one... hell, I'm even starting to like the Wii name....

Now you can play with your wii with a power glove!!!  ;)
Title: Re: Top 25 worst tech products
Post by: Mars on June 01, 2006, 02:32:12 pm
WIIIIIIIIII!