Founded in 1951 with the last of 400 stores having closed in 2025, Sam Goody was one of the record store giants from the golden age of physical media.
The chain was one of the most prominent music, video, and entertainment retailers for much of the 20th century, becoming a staple in malls and shopping centers across North America. But like many large purveyors of physical media, its fortunes turned with the rise of he internet, digital downloads, and online shopping.
In 2024, Miller High Life released a perfume that mixes all the essential scents of a neighborhood dive bar. According to Miller High Life, the perfume “captures every familiar dive bar scent, from the satisfying crack of a freshly opened beer to the comforting savory taste of classic bar snacks.” The “transformative” blend includes notes of cedarwood and patchouli, “so every spritz takes you back to that well-loved bar top,” and tobacco and leather, which are meant to evoke “the comforting musk of worn-in barstools.” There are also notes of champaca blossom for “that crisp, refreshing aroma when the bartender cracks open The Champagne of Beers” and a little whisper of sea salt, “like the basket of fries you look forward to at the end of the night.”
Released in 2024 after having raised $230M, the Humane AI pin was a futuristic wearable device powered by artificial intelligence. However, the AI assistant frequently gave incorrect answers to questions, the pin struggled to complete basic tasks like setting a timer or making a phone call, the battery only lasted two to four hours, the voice commands were slow, ad the pin overheated easily.
Less than a year after its launch, the AI Pin is gone, and Humane Inc. is being sold for spare parts.
So, what went wrong?
Let’s break it down:
1. Bold vision, flawed execution
Humane marketed the AI Pin as an “iPhone killer,” but failed at product design. Slow response times, overheating issues, and an awkward user experience made it feel like a prototype.
2. A flawed pricing strategy
The $699 price was high as is, but the added $24/month subscription made possible customers say “I’ll just use my phone”.
3. Skipping real-world testing
Poor battery life, laggy cloud processing, and unreliable voice commands made it impractical for everyday use – issues that should’ve been caught in testing.
4. Operating like a corporation, not a startup
Humane followed Apple’s “big reveal” strategy instead of iterating based on user feedback. Prioritizing design over function, they ignored early warnings and launched an unfinished product.
5. No ecosystem, no adoption
Unlike Apple or Google, the AI Pin had no app store, third-party integrations, or seamless device compatibility, leaving users with a standalone gadget that didn’t fit into their workflow.
6. Burned cash without a backup plan
Despite raising $230M, Humane’s high burn rate meant they needed mass adoption fast. When early reviews highlighted flaws, demand collapsed, and they had no pivot strategy.
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.
