Top Flops: Dissecting Once-Hyped Items That Now Gather Dust

A new list of things that were once very much hyped as "THE NEXT BIG THING" . . . but massively flopped and are now long gone and forgotten and are probably collecting dust somewhere tuck away never to be seen again. The next big thing always comes and always goes. Furby's, Tickle Me Elmo, light up shoes and electronic diaries are just a few that come to my mind. Here are some of the long lost long forgotten no one wants to play with anymore items.

Do you remember when these? Do you own these? Did you ever want one of these items? Not going to lie I wanted a segway for about 7 mins. Then I rode one for about 10 feet and that was enough for me. That way a big medical bill waiting to happen.

Here are the highlights of the biggest flops:

1.  Google+.  The "Facebook killer" . . . that died itself.

2.  3D TVs.  Also:  Curved televisions.

3.  Quibi.  Which was supposed to "change streaming forever."

4.  The Metaverse.  Remember when EVERYONE was talking about it?

5.  Zune.  Microsoft tried to challenge Apple's iPod . . . and lost.

6.  The Segway.  It's been 20 years since we were told we'd be seeing these EVERYWHERE.

7.  Google Glasses.  This concept still feels like it has potential, but Google couldn't get them to take off 10 years ago.

8. CueCat -These came out in the early years of the internet and could scan special barcodes from magazines . . . to load webpages on a computer. Unlike QR Codes these had to be plugged into your computer.

9.  HouseParty.  It was a remote gaming app from the pandemic quarantine era.

10.  Sega Dreamcast.  One of the gaming consoles that just ever really didn't catch on.

11.  Threads.  It was supposed to replace Twitter (or X).  And now, a lot of it is just engagement phishing. I personally find an extra thing on my social media annoying.

12.  VR.  They keep trying to make it happen, but it's never gone mainstream. I tried this once and also not for me. Your balance of lack of made it not a great time for me.

13.  Crystal Pepsi.  Although the nostalgia is strong. Just didn't stick.

14.  Fake meat.  It has gone mainstream, and it has potential for more . . . but there's one big failure:  It's still very expensive.  One person online said, "Surely, mixing some plant proteins together at scale will eventually become cheaper than raising a whole a** cow, right?"  This just flat out grosses me out. No thank you.