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The Segway took the idea of the two wheeled vehicle and made it require thousands of dollars of electronics to remain as stable as an ordinary two wheeled bicycle. The Apple Newton was a personal organizer that required a personal assistant to carry it around for you.
The common thread in the choices here is people mistaking sophisticated engineering for sophisticated design. Many were and still are technical triumphs.
The Space Shuttle, for example, still bathes in the reflected glory of the Apollo missions, yet its design was largely a mistake based upon the PR potential of a plane-like craft, rather than practicality. Its replacement will look much more like a Saturn 5 rocket and it forms part of the hardware for what Nasa refer to internally as the ‘crude missions’.
Below is our chart of the biggest all time tech. failures. Vote for the biggest loser or suggest some alternatives in the comments.
