Top 10 vapourware

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

 1 of 10

Gallery

Posted on 19 Mar 2010 at 16:00

2. Video phones

Since science fiction was first created, a staple of it has been the video phone. Whether its massive displays, such as those in Star Trek, or small personal desktop devices as seen elsewhere, video phones were supposed to be the way of the future.

In fact, when 3G networks first launched, Three made a massive thing about how the main point of its network was that you could make video calls. Aside from the fact that the quality was appalling bad, it soon became clear that nobody actually wanted to make video calls all of the time. Amstrad learnt this from its last E@mailer product, too.

Most of the time when people are on the phone the last thing they want is for the person they're talking to to see what they're really up to, as it would mean devoting all of your attention to the call, rather than half listening while you flick through the paper or wash the dishes.

Aside from video calls made on the internet, such as those made by grandparents to their far-away grandchildren (or perverts on chat roulette), there's simply no demand for video calls, no matter how hard companies try to convince that there is.

1. Everything connected to the internet

Look at any list of technology predictions and you'll find that they'll all mention how this year will be the year that we connect everything in our house up to the internet. The inevitable example is always how our fridges will be connected to the internet, so that they can order new products when we've run out.

It's an image that largely seems to have been created by LG's internet fridge. Rather than some kind of amazing futuristic device, though - it's really just a fridge that happens to have monitor put into its side. In other words, it's the world's most uncomfortable and impractical way to browse the internet.

In short, we have the technology to connect our homes to the internet, such as central heating systems that we can manage remotely, but there's no general appetite for the massive complexity and expense that this incurs. So, let us be the first to make a prediction about everything being connected to the internet: this is definitely not going to be the year that this happens.

Author: Expert Reviews Staff