# Examples of inventions that seem like a good idea but turned out to be worthless **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [April 10, 2019, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/examples-of-inventions-that-seem-like-a-good-idea-but-turned-out-to-be-worthless/832355 "2019-04-10T21:04:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Xema](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/9de053/32.png) [@Xema](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Xema)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2019, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/examples-of-inventions-that-seem-like-a-good-idea-but-turned-out-to-be-worthless/832355/61 "2019-04-16T02:34:17Z")
Seems like the Theranos desktop blood analyzer would qualify here. ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2019, 4:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/examples-of-inventions-that-seem-like-a-good-idea-but-turned-out-to-be-worthless/832355/62 "2019-04-16T04:42:06Z")
> [@stanger](#): > > I remember a friend of mine buying a Technics audio system in the late 70s that had ‘dbx’ noise reduction incorporated in it. Was supposed to be superior to the Dolby system that was widely available at that time. > > I bought a dbx converter unit for my regular sound system. I don’t recall if it seemed to work much better for cassette recordings (which is what I used it for), but you could get special vinyl records to use with the system that really sounded clean and cool, though the selection was quite small. > > Never saw another dbx system since. I don’t know if it just didn’t get the exposure it needed to grow or if the newer Dolby setups passed it by in quality. I had a dbx tape deck. It was awesome, and much better than Dolby, but it was only useful for making dubs, since there was little if any pre-recorded media encoded with dbx. ---
**Author:** ![JoseB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/joseb/32/1530_2.png) [@JoseB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JoseB)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2019, 7:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/examples-of-inventions-that-seem-like-a-good-idea-but-turned-out-to-be-worthless/832355/63 "2019-04-16T07:20:57Z")
> [@polar\_bear](#): > > Heavily subsidized by us normal folk (since even the 3 is prized way into the realm of luxury cars). > > You’re welcome btw > > Verstuurd vanaf mijn moto g(6) met Tapatalk Actually it’s interesting. I made the calculations and just taking into account the savings in energy and maintenance, throughout the whole 10-year life of the car the owner ends up paying less than with a normal car. Yes, it was like buying a house and I will be tightening my belt for 5 years. But it is worth it. ---
**Author:** ![JoseB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/joseb/32/1530_2.png) [@JoseB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JoseB)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2019, 7:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/examples-of-inventions-that-seem-like-a-good-idea-but-turned-out-to-be-worthless/832355/64 "2019-04-16T07:22:33Z")
> [@Xema](#): > > Seems like the Theranos desktop blood analyzer would qualify here. Wouldn’t that fall straight into the realm of pure fraud, though? I understand that the OP asked for inventions that were honestly created but ended up being useless. ---
**Author:** ![Grrr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grrr/32/146_2.png) [@Grrr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grrr)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2019, 8:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/examples-of-inventions-that-seem-like-a-good-idea-but-turned-out-to-be-worthless/832355/65 "2019-04-16T08:19:23Z")
For me it’s a back scrubber. Bought one, used it once and was underwhelmed. The only reason it still sets in my bath is because it looks nice with the rest of the décor. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2019, 11:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/examples-of-inventions-that-seem-like-a-good-idea-but-turned-out-to-be-worthless/832355/66 "2019-04-16T11:48:34Z")
> [@Mr\_Zox](#): > > Apple corer. Great idea: jam it into the apple, saw it in a circle, pop out the core. Only one problem: the edge blunts in six months to the point where the only apples you can force it into are so rotten the smell makes you gag. > > So, you go back to cutting the apple into fourths and cutting out the parts of the core. All with that inexpensive paring knife you had all along. Or you get [this style of apple corer](https://www.kohls.com/product/prd-37858/oxo-good-grips-apple-divider.jsp?skuid=06643124&ci_mcc=ci&utm_campaign=FOOD%20PREP&utm_medium=CSE&utm_source=google&utm_product=06643124&CID=shopping15&utm_campaignid=196835012&pid=googleadwords_int&af_channel=CSE&gclid=Cj0KCQjw-tXlBRDWARIsAGYQAmeVkGFS_jZEDIhmDszwFJ8g2B9z8A900D9_qJhICwDyKm0JX-OdeR8aAo0gEALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds), if you don’t mind the apple being sectioned automatically. Having two kids under 5, the darn thing is a godsend to me. I wasn’t aware of this style of corer until I saw our daycare using it and thought … hmm … that seems useful. And it is. Just push down, and voila! Cored apple, cut into eighths. ---
**Author:** ![Xema](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/9de053/32.png) [@Xema](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Xema)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2019, 11:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/examples-of-inventions-that-seem-like-a-good-idea-but-turned-out-to-be-worthless/832355/67 "2019-04-16T11:50:42Z")
> [@JoseB](#): > > Wouldn’t that fall straight into the realm of pure fraud, though? I think that for quite a while it was viewed as a great idea that just needed a bit more development to really work. When this proved impossible, fraud took over. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2019, 12:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/examples-of-inventions-that-seem-like-a-good-idea-but-turned-out-to-be-worthless/832355/68 "2019-04-16T12:01:49Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > Or you get [this style of apple corer](https://www.kohls.com/product/prd-37858/oxo-good-grips-apple-divider.jsp?skuid=06643124&ci_mcc=ci&utm_campaign=FOOD%20PREP&utm_medium=CSE&utm_source=google&utm_product=06643124&CID=shopping15&utm_campaignid=196835012&pid=googleadwords_int&af_channel=CSE&gclid=Cj0KCQjw-tXlBRDWARIsAGYQAmeVkGFS_jZEDIhmDszwFJ8g2B9z8A900D9_qJhICwDyKm0JX-OdeR8aAo0gEALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds), if you don’t mind the apple being sectioned automatically. Having two kids under 5, the darn thing is a godsend to me. I wasn’t aware of this style of corer until I saw our daycare using it and thought … hmm … that seems useful. And it is. Just push down, and voila! Cored apple, cut into eighths. Graham Kerr, “The Galloping Gpurmet”, called it a “Bombsight”, and highly recommended it. ---
**Author:** ![Grrr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grrr/32/146_2.png) [@Grrr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grrr)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2019, 12:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/examples-of-inventions-that-seem-like-a-good-idea-but-turned-out-to-be-worthless/832355/69 "2019-04-16T12:02:22Z")
> [@Xema](#): > > I think that for quite a while it was viewed as a great idea that just needed a bit more development to really work. When this proved impossible, fraud took over. This. Although I still don’t think Crazy Eyes gets that it wasn’t going work. ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2019, 1:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/examples-of-inventions-that-seem-like-a-good-idea-but-turned-out-to-be-worthless/832355/70 "2019-04-16T13:03:15Z")
Quadraphonic sound. If stereo was good, then 4 channels would be twice as good! Except who had 4 speakers and could situate them such that you could hear all 4 distinctly. And nobody had 4 ears. And nothing was produced in quadraphonic. ---
**Author:** ![VOW](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/vow/32/3043_2.png) [@VOW](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VOW)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2019, 1:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/examples-of-inventions-that-seem-like-a-good-idea-but-turned-out-to-be-worthless/832355/71 "2019-04-16T13:47:21Z")
The highly touted “Air Fryer.” Takes up way too much space, basket doesn’t hold a family-sized meal, it gets HOT, and you have to stand over it and watch it so stuff doesn’t burn. It’s got weird shaped innards that have to be washed by hand, and little nooks and crannies that don’t want to come clean. And the food prepared in it is _meh_. ~VOW ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2019, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/examples-of-inventions-that-seem-like-a-good-idea-but-turned-out-to-be-worthless/832355/72 "2019-04-16T14:04:29Z")
> [@VOW](#): > > The highly touted “Air Fryer.” > > Takes up way too much space, basket doesn’t hold a family-sized meal, it gets HOT, and you have to stand over it and watch it so stuff doesn’t burn. > > It’s got weird shaped innards that have to be washed by hand, and little nooks and crannies that don’t want to come clean. > > And the food prepared in it is _meh_. > ~VOW Heh. I love mine. I keep it in a storage area in our basement along side my rice cooker, waffle maker, vacuum sealer, and big Le Creuset Dutch Ovens. Everything I’ve made in it so far has been a huge hit. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2019, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/examples-of-inventions-that-seem-like-a-good-idea-but-turned-out-to-be-worthless/832355/73 "2019-04-16T14:51:18Z")
Remember the electric knife? Ours lived in a drawer 364 days a year. It sliced the turkey on Thanksgiving. Too much trouble plugging it in. It had two blades that attached together with a rivet. ---
**Author:** ![Procrustus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/procrustus/32/2994_2.png) [@Procrustus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Procrustus)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2019, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/examples-of-inventions-that-seem-like-a-good-idea-but-turned-out-to-be-worthless/832355/74 "2019-04-16T14:57:27Z")
Ok. “Worthless” would be going to far, but I’ll nominate “face time.” In the old days, we all thought the phone of the future would have a picture as well as the sound. I think it was even featured in Tomorrow World at Disneyland. Now most of us have that feature and almost never use it. ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2019, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/examples-of-inventions-that-seem-like-a-good-idea-but-turned-out-to-be-worthless/832355/75 "2019-04-16T15:01:52Z")
> [@BobLibDem](#): > > Quadraphonic sound. If stereo was good, then 4 channels would be twice as good! Except who had 4 speakers and could situate them such that you could hear all 4 distinctly. And nobody had 4 ears. And nothing was produced in quadraphonic. There were records, and reel-to-reel and 8-track tapes issued in quadraphonic, but only a few releases, mostly issued by Columbia Records, IIRC. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2019, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/examples-of-inventions-that-seem-like-a-good-idea-but-turned-out-to-be-worthless/832355/76 "2019-04-16T15:11:29Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > Remember the electric knife? > > Ours lived in a drawer 364 days a year. It sliced the turkey on Thanksgiving. > > Too much trouble plugging it in. > > It had two blades that attached together with a rivet. It’s true, I only use mine once or twice a year. But I wouldn’t do without one. Slicing turkey in thin, uniform slices for sandwiches is beyond my skill without one. ---
**Author:** ![Treppenwitz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treppenwitz/32/3445_2.png) [@Treppenwitz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Treppenwitz)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2019, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/examples-of-inventions-that-seem-like-a-good-idea-but-turned-out-to-be-worthless/832355/77 "2019-04-16T16:54:47Z")
Oooh - there are rich pickings in the kitchen. I think I first saw a [Ketchup Connector](https://www.amazon.com/TableCraft-2-Pack-White-Ketchup-Coupler/dp/B01LZTRZ8M) thirty years ago, and the damn things are still around. I never owned one (did anyone here?) but I was obsessed by the economics of them. The idea was that you connect the neck of your empty bottle (top) to that of the next bottle up (bottom) and the two cents worth of ketchup dregs from the old bottle drain into the new one. I mean (setting aside hygiene), if it really is to cents worth then you would have to use the example above 620 times before you were in profit, and I would have to live to about 150 before it paid me back. I think that qualifies as “turned out to be worthless”. j ---
**Author:** ![amaguri](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/49beb7/32.png) [@amaguri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amaguri)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2019, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/examples-of-inventions-that-seem-like-a-good-idea-but-turned-out-to-be-worthless/832355/78 "2019-04-16T17:26:35Z")
> [@Mr\_Zox](#): > > Apple corer. Great idea: jam it into the apple, saw it in a circle, pop out the core. Only one problem: the edge blunts in six months to the point where the only apples you can force it into are so rotten the smell makes you gag. > > So, you go back to cutting the apple into fourths and cutting out the parts of the core. All with that inexpensive paring knife you had all along. i use my apple corer practically every day to “core” cupcakes for filling. it’s PERFECT for that application but, yeah, i don’t really ever use it for its intended purpose. ---
**Author:** ![amaguri](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/49beb7/32.png) [@amaguri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amaguri)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2019, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/examples-of-inventions-that-seem-like-a-good-idea-but-turned-out-to-be-worthless/832355/79 "2019-04-16T17:28:14Z")
> [@Procrustus](#): > > Ok. “Worthless” would be going to far, but I’ll nominate “face time.” In the old days, we all thought the phone of the future would have a picture as well as the sound. I think it was even featured in Tomorrow World at Disneyland. Now most of us have that feature and almost never use it. I think this may be generational… I -never- use facetime, ever. But my niece and nephew seem to use it for everything. ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2019, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/examples-of-inventions-that-seem-like-a-good-idea-but-turned-out-to-be-worthless/832355/80 "2019-04-16T17:35:46Z")
> [@cochrane](#): > > There were records, and reel-to-reel and 8-track tapes issued in quadraphonic, but only a few releases, mostly issued by Columbia Records, IIRC. True enough, but the record companies quickly figured out that the hardware was going nowhere. Sort of like how software sells hardware, nobody is going to buy a system that doesn’t play their music any differently than what they currently have. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/examples-of-inventions-that-seem-like-a-good-idea-but-turned-out-to-be-worthless/832355.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/examples-of-inventions-that-seem-like-a-good-idea-but-turned-out-to-be-worthless/832355.md?page=5)