The Engineer Guy’s Stories of Technological Failures
My colleague at the University of Illinois, chemical engineer Bill Hammack, also known as The Engineer Guy, has been busy creating a new series of videos and was seemingly off the radar on youtube–but never fear, he is back!
By Joanne Manaster
This article was published in Scientific American’s former blog network and reflects the views of the author, not necessarily those of Scientific American
My colleague at the University of Illinois, chemical engineer Bill Hammack, also known as The Engineer Guy, has been busy creating a new series of videos and was seemingly off the radar on youtube--but never fear, he is back!
His latest series focuses on three famous technological "duds" or "Edsels". Bill explains more in this introductory video:
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Each video focuses on the different factors that kept various technologies from becoming a hit with the public. Primarily, the factors are related to the psychology of why people choose certain products over others, and timing. Good lessons for all of us, but especially entrepreneurs! And all good engineers need to keep these lessons in mind, too.
Picture Phone
Dvorak Keyboard
Beta-max
Bill is working on a fascinating historical project that will be released in a few months. I promise to keep you up-to-date on that.
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