Sundays' best: Top 10 worst technology predictions of all time
1. BRITAIN DOESN'T NEED TELEPHONES
Made in 1878 by Sir William Preece, chief engineer at the Post Office.
'The Americans have need of the telephone, but we do not. We have plenty of messenger boys,' he said.
2. X-RAYS ARE A HOAX
Lord Kevlin, President of the Royal Society was clearly unconvinced when he made his comments in 1883.
3. THERE WILL NEVER BE A BIGGER PLANE (AND IT ONLY HELD TEN PEOPLE)
The maiden flight of the Boeing 247 took place in 1933.
Speaking after the happy event, an engineer reportedly said: 'There will never be a bigger plane built.'
The world's biggest plane is currently the Airbus A380 can carry up to 853 people.
4. TV WON'T LAST
Darryl Zanuck, 20th Century Fox movie mogul was responsible for this clanger back in 1946.
He claimed the technology had a short shelf life because people will 'soon get tired of staring at a plywood box every night.'
5 HOMES WILL BE CLEANED WITH NUCLEAR HOOVERS
Back in the 1950s, Alex
Lewyt, president of the Lewyt Corp vacuum company, claimed it was only
a matter of time before nuclear power was used in the home.
'Nuclear-powered vacuum cleaners will probably be a reality within ten years,' he said.
6. LETTERS WILL BE DELIVERED BY ROCKET
'We stand on the threshold of rocket mail,' said U.S. postmaster general Arthur Summerfield in 1959.
7. COMPUTERS AREN'T FOR HOME USE
In
1977, Ken Olsen, the president, chairman and founder of Digital
Equipment Corp (DEC) claimed there was no reason for anyone to want a
personal computer.
8. YOU'LL ONLY EVER NEED 640KB OF MEMORY
Bill Gates's first entry into the chart with his 1981 claim that no personal computer would ever need huge amounts of capacity.
He has since denied making the statement,,,
9. WE'LL KILL SPAM IN TWO YEARS
... though there's no doubt he said this one.
Speaking at the 2004 World Economic Forum he claimed a solution was in sight.
10. THE iPOD WILL BE KAPUT BY NEXT CHRISTMAS
And rounding off the technology hall of shame is Sir Alan Sugar.
He made his claim in 2005, telling an interviewer: 'Next Christmas the iPod will be dead, finished, gone, kaput.'
And we can make that a very long list... What about "Newspapers will always be there" or "Television is here to stay" or even "New cars will never be sold online..." ;-)
