Vaporware 2007: Long Live the King

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.”

9. Tesla Roadster

Along with the Chevy Volt, which was nominated but didn’t make the top 10, the Tesla Roadster is one of the first electric cars to really turn heads. It not only looks like a handful of aces (thanks to some sexing up by the Brits at Lotus Cars), but it tops out at 125 mph and it can go from zero to 60 in about four seconds. And the Tesla ain’t no hybrid, either — the fully electric motor can travel more than 200 miles on a single charge.

The car has been appearing everywhere — Popular Science, The New York Times, Wired — except the blacktop. The Tesla Roadster was promised this October, but now we’re looking forward to burning some vapor in 2008.

Wired