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14 Useless Old Tech Products That FADED Into History

Tech X Docs

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Stop repeating billion-dollar mistakes other companies already paid for. 30+ failures, $15B+ in lessons, one book 👉📘 Dead on Arrival: https://dead-on-arrival.netlify.app/

Fourteen gadgets. Every single one was supposed to change everything. Every single one quietly disappeared.

The calculator watch. The Power Glove. A disc that expired after 48 hours. A barcode scanner nobody asked for.

These weren't fringe products. They had million-dollar marketing campaigns, celebrity endorsements, and shelf space at every major retailer.

Some lost because the technology didn't work yet. Some lost because a worse product was cheaper. One lost because Sony refused to make the tape longer.

One spent $185 million solving a problem that didn't exist.

Every failure on this list teaches something the business schools still argue about.

Subscribe. This list is far from over.

🕰️ CHAPTERS
00:00 - Intro
00:25 - The Calculator Watch
02:20 - Sony Betamax
04:25 - The Laserdisc
06:40 - The RCA Selectvision / CED Videodisc
08:50 - The Casio TV-10 Pocket Television
10:50 - The Nintendo Power Glove
13:15 - Sony MiniDisc
15:40 - The Apple Newton Messagepad
17:45 - The Atari Jaguar
19:55 - The Circuit City DivX Disc
22:20 - The Digital Compact Cassette
24:37 - The Cuecat Barcode Scanner
26:57 - The Apple Pippin
29:18 - The Amstrad E-m@iler

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#vintage #nostalgia #techproducts #1970s #1980s #1990s

20 Comments

@TechXDocs Creator 1 month ago Pinned

The calculator watch. The Seiko TV Watch. The Mattel Aquarius. Every "useless" gadget failed for a reason, and the reasons repeat across decades 👉📘 Dead on Arrival: https://dead-on-arrival.netlify.app/

@charleshollingsworth1583 2 months ago

I still wear a casio caculator watch, casio still makes them.

@magicmattkelly 2 months ago (edited)

My mom bought me one of those calculator watches in the early 80's when I was in grade school. I actually thought it was kind of cool. But it did get super nerdy pretty quickly, I didn't wear it for much over a year. Years later, she bought me another one for either my 21st or 22nd birthday (we were into the 1990's at this point). My reaction was basically, "Mom, WHY?" All she could say was she remembered how I loved that watch as a kid, she thought I would love to have another one. I didn't argue any further because she was terminally ill. It ended up being the last gift I received from her before she passed. Yes, I still have that watch.

@32ndspecialist 2 months ago

My father wore a calculator watch all the time until he passed away in 2015. He was 83 & used a mechanical pencil to push the buttons.

@ruelsnrg5740 2 months ago

I wore the Casio calculator watch today and it's 2026

@marcdraco 1 month ago

I bought my dad one of those little TVs so he could watch the horse racing while he was at the track to enjoy the different angles. RIP Don.

@reneblom2160 2 months ago (edited)

I still have my 30-year old Kenwood MiniDisc player, and it's still in good working condition.

@williamj.dovejr.8613 2 months ago

I still have that Casio watch starting in 1987, then 1989...I regret nothing.

@anduril7401 2 months ago

This Casio sells millions of those watches a year lol.

@number1patmagroin 2 months ago

im not ashamed to admit that i too had a Casio databank on my wrist whilst i was taking my maths exam. back in the early 80s in the uk, you werent allowed to have a calculator, so having one on my wrist as i went into the exam hall made me feel slightly more confident. and it actually worked really well as i got a grade one pass that nobody else got in those particular exams. they called me out for cheating but didnt have any proof so had to apologise and give me my pass certificate!

@caeserromero3013 2 months ago

When I started secondary school in 1990, you couldn't use calculators in exams. Being both devious and bad at maths, I decided to buy a calculator watch in the hope I'd be able to secretly cheat in my exams. By the time I took my GCSE maths exam in 1994, you were allowed to use calculators...so I never got to use my tiny casio in anger.

@prutser67 2 months ago

The unofficial reason VHS won the battle, was because you could buy VHS porn movies.

@aleksazunjic9672 2 months ago

Calculator watches were a thing when I was in school in mid-late 80s. I'm fairly certain by that time they were knockoffs , but kids who had them were kinda cool , because calculators were banned on tests (it was equivalent of US junior high). Later regular calculators with scientific features became ubiquitous, and they were allowed in higher grades so I didn't pay attention what happened to calculator watches.

@WayneSpillett 2 months ago

Getting up to flip the disc is consistent with the cinema experience, given that in the eighties, cinemas still used reel-to-reel film that had to be swapped half way through.

@jasondashney 2 months ago

Remember 3D tv's? The whole industry tried so hard to make them a thing. Nobody cared. Same with 4K disks.

@davidtraylor3062 2 months ago

Putting the Casio calculator watch in a thumbnail that says "Nobody wanted this" is ridiculous. They came out when I was in grade school. Everyone wanted them throughout my grade, jr. high and high school years. Yes it was replaced by new technology. But saying nobody wanted it, is like saying nobody wanted the horse and buggy because they were replaced by cars!

@mattlassen5948 2 months ago

I went through several calculator watches including a $70 sleek gold plated one. They served me well especially since I worked as a delivery driver. Even though I might have looked like a dork. They had a data bank for names and telephone numbers, a calendar, and you could set multiple alarms and reminders.

@bensamuels4976 1 month ago

I had a Casio calculator watch! It was awesome. It even had a game with scrolling numbers that you had to match and "kill" with the keypad, or lose. Of course, I was a huge nerd. It was a birthday gift and I totally loved it!

@ferraribeng 2 months ago

VCD Players, made in Taiwan, was selling very well in Asia. Cost barely USD50. The reason was pirated videos, in VCD format, were readily available. Copyrights were not strictly enforced due to corruption and was costing governments too much money to enforce it.