Vaporware 2007: Long Live the King

[Quicksilver]

I know many of you have heard of this or that kind of product that never came to fruition. As you laugh about the failures here's the king of the list according to WIRED. Add your own if you like......... You know; something like those magnetic gas saving devices you add to your engine......

It's time again to inhale the fumes of failure. Every December, Wired News asks its readers to nominate their choices for our annual Vaporware awards. We hand out accolades (and raspberries) to the most-prized products that were promised but never delivered. Reader votes have helped whittle the list down to the top 10 honorees for the 2007 Podium of Shame. So, with a quick nod to this year's honorable mention -- Iran's nuclear weapons program -- let's savor the vapor, starting with the bottom of the short list.

10. STEORN ORBO
At the close of 2006, the Dublin-based firm Steorn announced the creation of the Orbo, a magnetic motor device that generates free, constant energy. In other words, a perpetual-motion machine. Steorn claims its technology can be used in everything "from portable music players to cars."

First law of thermodynamics be damned, Steorn planned a public demonstration for July 2007. The display was ultimately cancelled.

The company promises to eventually reveal the Orbo's inner workings, but Wired News reader Randomeis thinks he has it figured out: "It runs on the unlimited supply of VC (venture capitalist) gullibility."

http://www.wired.com/gadgets/gadgetr...2/YE_Vaporware