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Sugar iPod error is worst tech prediction

Posted by Mark Mayne on Wed 10 Dec 2008

The future is an uncertain beast, and this lot got bitten

Futurology has its moments, and some glimpses of the future can be laser-beam accurate. Then, there’s the other side of the coin…

 

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From the thrillingly bad iPod death prediction from Emailer inventor Alan Sugar in 2005, to the excitingly dumb pronouncement that homes will never need computers in them, here’s T3s top 10 tech howlers.

 

In pictures: The worst tech predictions

1. The iPod will never take off – Sir Alan Sugar in 2005

2. No need for a computer in the home – Ken Olsen, founder of Digital Equipment Corp in 1977

3. "Nuclear-powered vacuum cleaners will probably be a reality within ten years" – Alex Lewyt, president of the Lewyt Corp vacuum company

4. TV won't last because people would, "soon get tired of staring at a plywood box every night" – Darryl Zanuck in 1946

5. In 1933, after the first flight of the Boeing 247, a plane that could hold ten people, a proud Boeing engineer reportedly said, "There will never be a bigger plane built."

6. "We stand on the threshold of rocket mail" – US postmaster general Arthur Summerfield in 1959

7. Nobody would ever need more than 640KB of memory on their personal computer– Bill Gates in 1981, allegedly.

8. "The Americans have need of the telephone, but we do not. We have plenty of messenger boys" – Sir William Preece, chief engineer at the Post Office in 1878

9. Spam will be solved – Bill Gates, 2004.
 
10. "X-rays will prove to be a hoax" – Lord Kelvin, President of the Royal Society, in 1883.

 

 

Future Tech: See the gadgets of tomorrow

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