Falling Debris: Tech devices that crashed to Earth
by Zack Whittaker | September 22, 2011 2:09pm PDT | Image 1 of 12
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Falling debris: Get out your Acme umbrellas
Even with last-minute updates from NASA and US Strategic Command pinpointing when and where the Upper Atmosphere Research (UARS) satellite will begin its final plunge into the Earth's atmosphere, the sheer size of the planet, with its vast stretches of ocean and remote terrain, means the odds of catching a glimpse — or of being anywhere near any falling debris — will be remote.
The re-entry is expected to occur between 11 a.m. PT and 3 p.m. PT on Friday Sept. 23.
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If you remember a technology, product or service that flopped to Earth after crashing from orbit, leave your thoughts below.
You can add SACD, DVD-Audio, the laser disc, HD-DVD to your list of crash and burn tech.
Oh yeah almost forgot, the HP Touchpad.
Oh yeah almost forgot, the HP Touchpad.
@MG537
+ 1
I also believe clunky Blu-Ray will be joining that list in a couple of years.
+ 1
I also believe clunky Blu-Ray will be joining that list in a couple of years.
@ScorpioBlue
Surely. I can't stand the gorgeous image quality and it's only a matter of time before 1080p streaming is possible...
Surely. I can't stand the gorgeous image quality and it's only a matter of time before 1080p streaming is possible...
How about a real one?
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2009-07-13/esperance-will-never-forget-skylab-crash/1351410
I wonder if it will land in Australia again.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2009-07-13/esperance-will-never-forget-skylab-crash/1351410
I wonder if it will land in Australia again.
@ben.rattigan ... that would be poetic justice. 
The security protection of Vista was certainly not nominal. It wasn't perfect (security never is), and was certainly annoying, but it was real and effective.
@CobraA1
It was junk, but some of you die-hards refuse to give up.
It was junk, but some of you die-hards refuse to give up.
@ScorpioBlue Ditto to the die-hards who never gave it a chance after the first service pack.
But hey, we have Windows 7 now, so Vista is the past. You believe what you like.
But hey, we have Windows 7 now, so Vista is the past. You believe what you like.
Ditto to the die-hards who never gave it a chance after the first service pack.
By then it was too little too late. Some people weren't gonna wait around a fukking year for MS to at attempt to get it's act straight. Even MS couldn't run away from it fast enough.
Nope, you lost on that one. Even Jason Perlow and Zack don't agree with you so I doubt you're gonna change any minds about it at this point in time.
But hey, we have Windows 7 now, so Vista is the past. You believe what you like.
I will. And everytime you die-hards come on here defending this POS, I'll be right there to bring some truth to your corporate rip-off propaganda.
By then it was too little too late. Some people weren't gonna wait around a fukking year for MS to at attempt to get it's act straight. Even MS couldn't run away from it fast enough.
Nope, you lost on that one. Even Jason Perlow and Zack don't agree with you so I doubt you're gonna change any minds about it at this point in time.
But hey, we have Windows 7 now, so Vista is the past. You believe what you like.
I will. And everytime you die-hards come on here defending this POS, I'll be right there to bring some truth to your corporate rip-off propaganda.
IBM's attempt to lock-out the clone makers was a major disaster. Rather than have the aftermarket card producers flock to the new IBM standard the so called "Gang Of 9" (AST Research, Compaq Computer, Epson, Hewlett-Packard, NEC, Olivetti, Tandy, WYSE and Zenith Data Systems) banded together to produce the EISA card slot which had the significant advantage of being backwardly compatible with the ISA card slot.
What is with all the Microsoft hate? 3 items listed were Microsoft that should not have been on there. You should have listed linux since it never took off, corel linux crashed and burned. VA linux stocks crashed and burned. Tablets are on a plummet. 3D-Blu-ray players due to their outrageous prices.
@LoverockDavidson_
Flagged for trolling. No wonder you changed your name.
Flagged for trolling. No wonder you changed your name.
I like my netbook it serves my purpose as a computer I can take it on holiday with me.
I go camping with a bicycle and the netbook fits in my camera bag along with the Pentax and several lenses, a larger computer will not.
when I go to the pub at night I can transfer the photos to the netbook using Shotwell and do some image manipulation.
The netbook was intended for someone who needed a computer when a larger one is not an option,I find my netbook serves me well in that respect.
I go camping with a bicycle and the netbook fits in my camera bag along with the Pentax and several lenses, a larger computer will not.
when I go to the pub at night I can transfer the photos to the netbook using Shotwell and do some image manipulation.
The netbook was intended for someone who needed a computer when a larger one is not an option,I find my netbook serves me well in that respect.
@johnhgy@...
I too love my netbook. It does everything I want it to beautifully.
Instead of saying "crashed to earth, I'd say it came down to a smooth landing. Certainly, it's not the high flier it use to be. Tablets have taken over most of its niche. But there are some things tablets simply don't do well that a netbook does better.
I too love my netbook. It does everything I want it to beautifully.
Instead of saying "crashed to earth, I'd say it came down to a smooth landing. Certainly, it's not the high flier it use to be. Tablets have taken over most of its niche. But there are some things tablets simply don't do well that a netbook does better.
I love my Zune, yes it's not an ipod, and the accessories aren't out there for it, but the player works very well. The fact that it doesn't work with iTunes is actually a plus as that is one of the absolute worst media software programs out there and the only reason people use it is because the iXXXX products require it, not because it's such a great product.
@BrewmanNH
I own no Apple hardware at all and yet I manage my entire library in iTunes. It's really great software if you ever tried it (did you?). Have you tried to manage a +50GB music library in windows media player? It's nearly impossible, THAT's a piece of junk software...
I own no Apple hardware at all and yet I manage my entire library in iTunes. It's really great software if you ever tried it (did you?). Have you tried to manage a +50GB music library in windows media player? It's nearly impossible, THAT's a piece of junk software...
If you trundle a bit further back into tech history, the ground is fair littered with tech-junk. I had a ZX-81, but remember the white-elephant that almost choked Sinclair, the ZX-80. And how about the last from the Sinclair stable (albeit by Miles Gordon who bought out the failed Sinclair), the Sam Coupe? It was well ahead of PCs of the day, but was just too little, too late. Cost me NZ$2,000, sold for $900-odd a year or so later. Twin 3.5" FDDs, 512kb expansion pack - all it was missing was a hard drive.
And RealPlayer is the only player that seems to play Shockwave Flash video (.swf) reliably (even VLC crashes all the time).
Actually, I remember Zip disks taking off. They did eventually crash and burn with the the "click of death" issue and the advent of other technologies, but in their day they were fairly popular.
And going to their website, Iomega's still around. Looks like they make hard drives and flash drives now. They've basically left the removeable storage market.
And going to their website, Iomega's still around. Looks like they make hard drives and flash drives now. They've basically left the removeable storage market.
No matter how unhappy you feel, was even more unfortunate than you forever. No matter how great you think, always someone stronger than you.
I own a netbook, 3 of them in fact. They all run Ubuntu Netbook Remix 10.4. And they are all perfect for what I use them for. A tablet without an attached keyboard won't work most of the time for my application. A notebook is too big or too heavy. And no one wants to accidentally drop an ultrabook from 120ft up. I have touch-pad gloves for using it out in the cold. And as a side note, all of mine use SSDs. After all, one has fallen down the stairs, one has fallen off a roof, and the last one has fallen off a tower. A spinable would have died in each incident.
Some day, I may build myself my perfect portable machine because no one makes it yet.
Some day, I may build myself my perfect portable machine because no one makes it yet.
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