On: Spray-on liquid glass is about to revolutionize al...

[qq66]

Whenever they claim that something will revolutionize everything, it ends up in disappointment.

The things that actually do revolutionize everything are usually pooh-poohed at the beginning ("Another search engine?")

[dools → qq66]

Remember when Dean Kamen claimed that the Segway would change the way we built cities? Most hilarious product launch ever.

[ceejayoz → dools]

Talk about overpromising and underdelivering. I remember people speculating that he'd designed a compact, powerful hydrogen fuel cell, hoverboard or something similar.

[jonah → ceejayoz]

Like either of those would be massively revolutionary either.

[neworbit → jonah]

Well, by comparison...

[jonah → neworbit]

There already are portable fuel cells, you still have to get the Hydrogen somewhere. Now if the Orbo worked, that'd be something different.

As for a hoverboard - sure it's technically more interesting than a Segway, but would it truly revolutionize anything?

[pyre → jonah]

  > As for a hoverboard - sure it's technically more interesting
  > than a Segway, but would it truly revolutionize anything

It would for the cast of Back to the Future on Ice. ;-)

Seriously though, I think that the technology behind a hoverboard would probably have far more implications than the technology behind the Segway. The product itself might not revolutionize much, but the technology behind it would.

[maushu → pyre]

I agree, the hoverboard itself would revolutionize much (well, maybe for skaters), but the technology behind would change how we travel; Heck, we could use it to decrease the weight of the cars we currently use at least.

[jpcx01 → dools]

It did! I see parking attendents on segways every single day. Segway is directly responsible for a rise in parking tickets. Wonderful product!

[tlrobinson → dools]

This was the first thing I thought of when I read the parent comment.

[_juof → qq66]

For some marketing based technologies this is certainly true.For others , the gartner hyper cycle is more accurate : http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2396/1789656101_2229062a20.jp....