- [Narrator] Most of the tech giants
became successful by
producing useful products.
But surprisingly, it hasn't
always been that way.
Along the way, they've
experimented and tinkered
with some bizarre innovations,
that are so weird,
they'll make you wonder
what they were thinking.
Here are 20 of the weirdest tech products
you never knew existed.
Number 20, TimeBand
Way back in 1991, the CEO
of Apple was John Scully.
During his tenure they developed this idea
for something similar to
what is now a smartwatch.
It's not only huge, it's ugly too,
and while it's unclear
what features they were
thinking of putting into it,
perhaps an actual time machine,
there's little doubt that Steve Jobs is
still laughing about it from above.
Number 19 - Nintendo R.O.B.
Nintendo's been leading
the video console space
for decades, but clearly not
all their consoles succeeded.
Case in point, the Robot
Operating Buddy or ROB,
which was an actual working
robot for the Nintendo
Entertainment System in 1985.
It had an NES gamepad
input to help players
solve game puzzles through flashes
from the TV screen and
moving its mechanized arms.
It only had 2 terrible games that were
as entertaining as watching paint dry,
such as this one that involved spinning
and catching moving moving gyro's.
Unsurprisingly, the concept flopped,
but at least it allowed Wall-E
to jumpstart his career.
Number 18, Nintendo Super Scope.
Nintendo continued
creating odd contraptions
and by 1992, they'd created
this strange gaming weapon.
In 1993, US Senator Joe Lieberman said
that Super Scope looked too much like
an assault weapon and it was all downhill
from there for the game blaster.
It never achieved great success
and interest was limited.
Nintendo's Virtual Boy came soon after,
in 1995 and it appears
they were on to something
with the virtual reality
immersive 3D head gear.
They were just way too
early, as the technology
wasn't quite there like it
is today with Oculus Gear.
Due to the device being very primitive,
its demise was inevitable.
Number 17, Early Apple Computer Prototypes
Apple has pioneered computing
since its inception,
but their designs in the early days
were bizarre, to say the least.
This concept, called
the Apple Snow White 2
"Americana", was designed in 1982
by former Apple designer
Hartmut Esslinger.
It featured a small vertical screen,
but looked more like a modern day speaker.
Still, there were versions
with larger screens,
like this one, which showed their desire
to innovate and be different, way before
most people even knew
dual-monitors was a thing.
Moving onto the 90s, they came up
with this Clear Prototype
Emate 300 which was
a very exciting laptop style computer
that had never seen before.
It featured a transparent case and a pen.
Let's not forget the Apple
Orchard green classic computer.
Only two were made, so they're
quite the collectors item today.
Number 16, Apple QuickTake 100 Camera
Apple didn't stop at computers.
Their QuickTake 100
Camera, launched in 1994,
was the first in a
series of three that were
amongst the first
consumer digital cameras.
In collaboration with Kodak to create
the first two models and with Fujifilm
for the third, the product was
discontinued due to poor sales.
The camera had a whopping 0.3 megapixels
and could be directly
connected to an Apple Macintosh
or a Microsoft Windows system.
Here are some of the
high-resolution images it took.
It was listed by Time
Magazine as one of the top 100
greatest and most influential
gadgets since 1923.
Now they might call it junk.
Number 15, Apple Pippin
Apple's had a go at many tech niches.
In 1994 they pushed into the multimedia
console market with the Pippin.
Japanese toy maker, Bandai
licensed the Pippin,
but by the time they released it, they had
Sega Saturn, Sony Play Station,
and Windows-based
computers as competition.
At a price of $599,
which is well-over $1000
in today's money, the Pippin was
way too expensive
compared to alternatives.
The PlayStation, for example, was
half the price, and even better.
Compare the Pippin's "Racing Days" game
with the PlayStation's "Gran Turismo",
and you can see the Apple
console sucked in comparison.
It turned out to be a tremendous flop.
Apple sold only 42,000 units compared
to the half a million
units sold by PlayStation
in the first 3 days of
its console release.
So, the Pippin was
discontinued a year later.
Number 14, Early Jacks
Apple also designed these
early computer jacks
that were incredibly bulky, just so they
could continuously showcase their logo.
Come to think of it, they could've
marketed their huge jacks using cereal.
Number 13, KodakCoin
Cryptocurrency, such as
Bitcoin, is a fast growing
technology utilizing
blockchain technology.
Turns out photographic
film company, Kodak,
has recently launched a cryptocurrency
for its own unique purpose.
Crypto-mining devices
are rented out by Kodak
to crawl the web searching for photographs
that have been misused without a license
and then compensate photographers.
The plan was announced in January of 2018,
and Kodak's stock price tripled
in two days following the announcement.
Number 12, Mama Bear
Now lets talk about Amazon.
It's known for its humble
beginnings selling books
and growing into a billion dollar company.
Today, however, it owns so many companies
and brands, you'd have
trouble memorizing them all.
Some of the strangest include
Amazon's Mama Bear line
which sells organic baby
food, diapers, clothing,
and even breastfeeding soothing gels.
Amazon truly is the one place you can go
to buy literally anything.
Number 11, Selfie Toaster
People are obsessed with taking selfies
and posting them all over the internet.
But when the internet
fad finally goes away,
what will we then do?
Put selfies on toast, of course.
The Vermont Novelty Toaster Corporation
has created the Selfie Toaster.
Just send them your selfie photo,
and they'll create a metal plate
to slide into your toaster that produces
an image of you on your breakfast.
What better way is
there to spend a morning
than taking a bite out of your own face?
In case you were wondering,
yes, you can get it on Amazon.
Number 10, Pavlok
Do any of you have bad habits you want
to eliminate, like smoking or nail biting?
Well, it's shockingly
easy with this device.
The Pavlok looks like an ordinary Fitbit
but that's where the similarity ends.
This device can alter your behavior.
When you take a cigarette puff,
it delivers a shock that'll make
you change your mind about that smoke.
They claim that 75% of
smokers who used it,
quit smoking in less than 5 days,
and remained smoke-free after six months.
You can also get an alarm clock version
to help you avoid those snooze buttons,
and wake from bed with a
jolt of energy, literally.
Happy electrocution.
Number Nine, Robot Pole Dancer
After a shocking start to the day,
you might like some dancing.
These robot pole dancers were created
by Tobit Software out of Germany
for no obvious purpose other than to put
pole dancers out of existence.
First, they wanted to replace our police
and now they want our pole dancers too?
I like fake boobs as
much as the next person,
but I draw the line at robo-boobs.
Turns out, they may have been inspired
after Sony tried this in
2007 with the Sony Rolly.
It was a speaker that
could jump, roll, and dance
with choreography through
a special software.
While the product isn't
sold in America any longer,
it can still be found in some countries.
Number eight, Actimates
Sometimes Microsoft likes
to do things the creepy way.
When they do, we get
things like Actimates.
This was a collaboration with
the makers of Barney, Arthur,
and Teletubbies, as if Tinky
Winky wasn't weird enough.
Actimates lasted from
1997 to 2000, and it was
a great holiday gift
success during its run.
The toy could interact with a TV,
or a special computer
pack to provide children
with simple yes or no responses.
It's not clear why the
product was discontinued,
but the creepy factor remains to this day.
Number seven, Samsung Tea Machine
While Samsung is known as the leader
in smartphone production, it
seems there are other aspects
of their business that
are not so well known.
Samsung commercial-sized
tea and coffee machines
can be found if you look hard enough.
This particular machine was found
in an ancient Buddhist temple in Seoul,
South Korea called the Bongeunsa Temple.
Even Buddhist monks need to
have their hi-tech tea, I guess.
Number six, Gmail Soap
Google has been around for a long time,
and created lots of own-brand products,
whether for employees, or
gifts at promotional events.
Some of the strangest examples include
this soap, which must have been given
at a Russian event given the text.
Let's hope it cleans better
than my emails spam filter.
They didn't stop there either.
Check out this Google line
of shampoo and conditioner,
especially made for employees.
While these products aren't for sale,
they're interesting marketing
items and good, clean fun.
Sorry, I couldn't resist.
Number five, Bone Fone
Wearable tech is an interesting niche
companies have been experimenting with,
even as far back as 1979,
with this "Bone Fone".
Of course, there were no
cell phones back then,
so the name Bone Fone referred
to the sound it projected.
The radio speaker sound
was supposed to travel
through the wearer's bones
to be heard internally,
much like some of the
hearing aid technology used
today that sits on the
bone behind the ear.
The Bone Fone was marketed to joggers
as a less bulky alternative to headphones.
I guess it depended on which headphones
they were referring to.
Number four, Mitipi Kevin
Home security systems can be expensive
and difficult to operate sometimes.
With the Mitipi Kevin, however, you don't
have to worry while you're away.
Little Kevin, named after Kevin McAllister
from Home Alone, will make it appear
as if someone's at home to
scare away the burglars.
The bandits will never know
it's just Kevin at home alone.
Number three, Octagon iPhone
Apple has had to work up to
what is now readily available.
Take this octagonal phone, for example.
It was one of several prototypes
that Apple was working on before settling
on the rectangle with rounded corners.
If you thought that was weird,
checkout these Hartmut
Esslinger designed phones
conceptualized many years beforehand.
Early phone designs were clearly low tech.
This model was among their first and it's
definitely been improved
upon over the years.
If you go back far
enough, you'll see Apple
created phone prototypes called
the MacPhone in the 1980s.
Although these units were never released,
they may have paved the way for iPads.
Number 2, Wag Dog Food
Amazon here again.
This time, dog food with their
new product line called Wag,
which was just launched in May of 2018.
The brand comes in 5 flavors
for your dog to enjoy,
with the best seller so far
being the salmon and lentils.
These dogs are eating better than I am.
However, due to several complaints of food
being crushed during
shipping, Amazon discontinued
promoting the product until
they could solve the issue.
Until then, I guess Spot's going hungry.
Before I reveal the weirdest
product on this list,
let's have a look at some
fun items that weren't sold
by these companies but
probably should have been.
Here's an image of Google
Milk Beta that's been
making its way around the internet.
After all, Google HQ
has hired goats to keep
their turf in check, as
a low-carbon approach
to grass-cutting, so why waste their milk?
Next up for all Google
fans, the Google Shoe.
The J9T model seen here
is a real shoe made
for a custom project that
hasn't been marketed.
Perhaps Google's trying to change
surfing the net to jogging the web.
Now, you may take your
iPhone into the toilet,
but how about sitting on
an Apple toilet itself,
like an iToilet?
It has their logo, so
I'm sure Apple's fanatics
would buy it.
Or, what about iWater if
you're feeling thirsty?
They'll tell you it's a new
concept with an ergonomic
design, clear display and can be recycled
when you've finished recharging.
Don't drink too much though,
or you may have to use the iPottie.
And if your current laptop is too large,
the Mactini may be the solution.
It only has one button and was made
for a comedy skit about how the company is
often pre-occupied about
making everything smaller,
despite making it ineffective as a result.
Still, I imagine Apple execs have
been brainstorming a way to
actually make the device,
and its successor, the Mactini Nano.
Finally, this last imaginary
Apple device, the iEye.
For the pirate on the
go, it comes with Iris,
instead of Siri, an actual retina display,
and for photos, there's
a program called Pinkeye
so you can share with your friends.
Number 1, Google Fridge
Keep your Google Milk cold in one
of these really cool Google fridges.
Coming in either the standard rectangular
fridge design, or an
egg shape, each displays
the Cooler Thinking motto and is
generally just a great
way to store your beer.
Who doesn't want one of these?
Many years back they
were offered by Google
to AdWords publishers who reached
a million clicks in their campaigns.
Today you can pick one
up for $700 on Ebay.
So, which product surprised you the most?
Or, would you actually
like to own any of them?
Let me know in the comments
section down below,
and thanks for watching!
(upbeat synth music)
