Launched in 2021 and discontinued in 2024, Car Thing was Spotify’s first hardware product, a simple touchscreen music player for car dashboards that piped tracks from the online service. The simple screen with a rotating dial and a few buttons was able to connect to your phone and your car to give you a better way to control music. Spotify stopped making Car Thing just five months after it launched due to low product demand and supply chain issues.
The first-gen Apple Pencil Lightning charger shouldn’t have gone past the initial design phase – let alone transform into a prototype and end up in the palms of a consumer (quite literally, in this case).
From the tip to the end cap, the 1st Gen Pencil measures 6.92 inches long, 0.35 inches thick, and weighs 0.73 ounces. It’s perfectly round and made from a glossy (slippery) plastic material, which means it’s not the easiest to hold and use and has a habit of rolling off desks and tables.
The 1st Gen Apple Pencil features a built-in male Lightning stem hiding under the end cap. You can plug the Pencil directly into a Lightning-equipped iPad to charge it, or use the included double reverse adapter to charge via Lightning cable. Both the end cap and adapter are small and frustratingly easy to lose, which means you may end up charging via iPad quite a bit. To say that charging the Pencil via iPad is awkward is an understatement.
In 2015, Apple released its infamous Magic Mouse 2, which, believe it or not, had a bottom-facing charging port. Most modern Apple users will point to this product as one of Apple’s most poorly designed modern products. Old-timers and legacy Apple fanboys will have a strong opinion on how the Magic Mouse could not hold a candle to the discontinued Hockey Puck mouse, though, at least as far as bad design goes.
Launched in 1998 and discontinued in 2000, The Apple “Hockey Puck” mouse had an unergonomic and uncomfortable shape, which made it difficult for users to orient correctly while using it. Additionally, the build quality was generally considered poor.
However, the “Hockey Puck” mouse was the first-ever Apple mouse to use the USB connectivity standard, which is commonplace today.
Launched in 2003 and discontinued in 2006, Hooters Air was based in Myrtle Beach and charged a $129 flat rate to 15 destinations.
Every flight aboard Hooters Air was staffed by two Hooters Girls, and they did wear their signature shorts and tank top ensembles. Since they lacked the FAA certification that the flight attendants had, Hooters servers could not operate any machinery onboard, like closing the airplane doors or pushing the food carts. In addition to the Hooters servers who entertained passengers with trivia and jokes, three FAA-certified flight attendants were also aboard every flight. These flight attendants did not don the usual garb associated with the restaurant chain.
The airline’s demise was compounded by a few factors. They started the airline as the airline industry was recovering from the 9/11 attacks when people were scared of getting on airplanes. There was growing low-fare competition in the market with competitors such as Southwest. Plus jet fuel prices were trending upwards making this not an economically viable business.
In 1983, Audio Technica launched the Sound Burger, a portable turntable, to compete with the Walkman. Much like cassettes in a Walkman, the Sound Burger let users play records anywhere, as long as they played on flat surfaces. This made them much less useful than a Walkman, which people used commonly while walking. Additionally, consumers had to carry their bulky vinyl and made the unprotected turntable records vulnerable.
Launched in 1985 and discontinued in 1986, OJ’s cereal claimed that “every bowl had the Vitamin C of a 4 oz glass of Orange Juice – 100% of the daily requirement. Plus a delicious Orange taste your kids will love!”
The cereal had a mascot called OJ Joe, a cattleman who rode around on an orange and corralled and roped other oranges that he then took to the Orange Processing Factory.
Kellogg’s was hopeful that OJ’s would give them traction in the youth market. However, the idea of orange-flavored milk didn’t resonate with the mass market.
Launched in 1978, Procter & Gamble was forced to take Rely Tampons off the market in 1980 after they were flooded with lawsuits from inadequately testing the tampon and marketing a defective product. Because the tampons were super absorbent, women were leaving tampons in for much longer periods of time. However, the tampons were made with a highly toxic material and frequently caused a deadly bacterial infection called Toxic Shock Syndrome.
Micronite filters, which use crocidolite asbestos, were exclusively used in Kent cigarettes from 1952 to 1956. Crocidolite is one of the most dangerous forms of asbestos to which a human can be exposed, in part because it is easy to inhale. Crocidolite is made up of extremely fine sharp fibers that are particularly easy to inhale. Studies show that crocidolite is so hazardous, it may be responsible for more illnesses and deaths than any other type of asbestos.
One filter contained approximately 10 mg of crocidolite. Crocidolite structures were found in the mainstream smoke from the first two puffs of each cigarette smoked. At the observed rates of asbestos release, a person smoking a pack of these cigarettes each day would take in more than 131 million crocidolite structures longer than 5 microns in 1 year.
Launched in 2015, the soles of the SpringBlade have 16 angled blades made out of polymer, and are meant to create an energetic and springy push-off. The SpringBlade, which costs $180-$200 per pair, was marketed as a running shoe that contained “explosive” energy, which was supposed to “enhance the running experience.”
However, the sole of the SpringBlade was defectively designed and manufactured. When a person walks and runs while wearing the shoe, the midsole is loaded and unloaded while flexing in multiple directions. However, it is these stresses to the shoe that are inherently trying to pull the components of the shoe apart.
