Tiger Electronics Furby
It sounds like the ultimate geek fantasy: Give your child an
intelligent robot for Christmas--even if it does look like a cross
between Gizmo from the "Gremlins" movie, a Muppet, and a Warner
Brothers cartoon character. Thanks to its CPU, sensors and moving
parts, the original Furby could react to light, sound and touch:
waking up in the morning, responding to words and sounds, and
responding to having its fur stroked. Out of the box, Furbys spoke
"Furbish," but could be taught to repeat certain English words if
they were given positive reinforcement at the same time. In 1998
they caused enough of a sensation that the $35 toys quickly sold
out in toy stores, driving prices up into the hundreds and riling
up parents who clearly hadn't learned from the Tickle Me Elmo fad
two years earlier.
iMac Flower Power and Dalmatian
Apple's first iMacs were like a breath of fresh air to the
computer-buying public. The bright, playful colors and rounded
design of the all-in-one computers were in sharp contrast to PCs,
which were still mostly beige blocks. Among the 2001 lineup of
iMacs were two new color schemes, Flower Power and Dalmation (white
with hazy blue spots). No doubt Steve Jobs thought that the softly
colored hues would be considered soothing and tasteful, but frankly
they were a bit more reminiscent of a cheap shower curtain. Even
the Mac faithful agreed, and saved their oohs and aahs for the
Indigo and Graphite models released at the same time.
Neuros II Digital Audio Computer
In 2004, Neuros Audio released the Neuros II, the second version of
what was already the mother of all audio players: It played MP3,
Ogg Vorbis, WMA and uncompressed WAV files. It could also record
MP3s through a line input, a built-in microphone, or an FM tuner.
Perhaps most innovative was the player's two-part design: The
player unit was mounted inside an upgradable "backpack" that
contained the battery and the storage media (from a 128MB flash
drive to an 80GB hard drive). The downside was that the whole thing
looked something like a black brick, at the ungainly size of 5.3 by
3.1 by 1.3 inches--at a time when audio players were getting
sleeker and more strikingly designed. However, the legion of
enthusiasts and tinkerers that Neuros catered to were more
interested in specs than looks, and they happily snapped the player
up.
Commodore 1541 Floppy Disk Drive
The Commodore 64 is arguably one of the best-designed computers
ever. It's boxy enough to remind you it's from the 1980s, but it's
got enough curves in just the right places that its look is almost
timeless. Unfortunately, the external Commodore 1541 disk drive
coming with it was pretty much a slab of plastic that was bulkier
and heavier than the computer it was supporting. It was noisier
too, making gronk sounds during ordinary operation and clacking
when it encountered read or write errors. The drive also ran hot,
which led to many drives being adorned with fans on the rear vents.
The only thing less appealing than one of these monsters on your
desk? Two of them.
Microsoft Zune Player
When Microsoft launched its "iPod killer" in 2006, the company made
sure to include many of the things that made Apple's iconic players
a runaway success, including great sound and an integrated music
store/manager. Somewhere along the way, though, Microsoft forgot to
include the iPod's sexy design, opting instead for a boxy plastic
casing and a spectacularly unflattering brown color. The Redmond
giant has released Zunes in other, "limited edition" colors, and
did manage to achieve its somewhat modest goal of selling a million
Zunes in seven months. Still, it's a bad sign when someone comes up
with a Web site built entirely around the joke that no one would
steal an iPod if it were hidden in a Zune casing--and people
actually want to buy that casing.
source from
http://tech.msn.com/products/slideshow.aspx?cp-documentid=5551551&imageindex=1
