10 Things That Were Supposed to Be the “Next Big Thing” . . . But Just Vanished

10 Things That Were Supposed to Be the “Next Big Thing” . . . But Just Vanished

1. Google+ . . . Google’s social network that was supposed to rival Facebook.
2. The Metaverse . . . Facebook’s alternate reality virtual space.
3. 3D televisions . . . and 3D movies.
4. HD DVD . . . It lost out to Blu-ray in the mid-2000s. Before that, Betamax!
5. Quibi . . . It was a streaming platform focusing on short-form content.
6. NFTs . . . Particularly the digital photos that were going for big bucks.
7. The two-wheeled Segway “personal transporter.”
8. The Titanic . . . and then the tours down to see it. (Too soon?)
9. Olestra . . . the fat substitute.
10. Theranos . . . the company Elizabeth Holmes started that claimed it had developed some kind of special blood test technology, where a small finger prick of blood could be analyzed and sent to doctors to screen you for all kinds of conditions. Whatever it was, it turned out to be a fraud.
11. New Coke.
12. Johnny “Football” Manziel . . . who flamed out with the Browns.
13. Microsoft Zune . . . even though some die-hards swear by it.
14. Power Balance . . . Those rubber wrist bands with a holographic sticker or something inside them to “improve your balance.”
15. Virtual Reality . . . It hasn’t fully vanished, it still keeps coming back, but it never becomes the game-changer that people keep trying to make it.
16. The Wallflowers.