Crappy Tech

John Aravosis over at AmericaBlog dials down the politics for a moment and points to this PC World magazine article on the 25 worst tech products/services of all time. It's a fun march down memory lane (having been writing and editing in the tech software and tech product industry for the last 10 years) and it includes a few things that I don't remember at all (Priceline Groceries and Gas?). It also notes, in a supplemental section, several items that were non-starters, which includes one that still makes me get a little wispy--the Audrey:

3Com Audrey (1999): Some of us had a soft spot in our hearts for Audrey, the Internet appliance--that supple form, the cute way her light blinked green when a new e-mail message arrived. But with limited functionality and no broadband support, she failed to excite the masses, instead becoming a symbol of why Net appliances bombed. [ed note: it didn't come out onto the market until 2000]

I actually have been reminiscing about lately as I try to come up with a shared calendar solution for me and Mrs. F, and I still regret to this day not grabbing this sample as I left my job at Amazon back in 2003. It would look great on the credenza in our living room (well... Mrs. F might put the kybosh on that). Here's my review of it from back-in-the-day at Amazon.