Woah woah woah why the Crystal Pepsi pic?!?! Nothing was wrong with that in fact they need to bring that stuff back!

@nato0519:

...why?

Not sure about the mini-TV being a dumb invention when everyone on the subway is squinting at tiny screens on their iPod nanos.

That "Baby Holder" looks suspiciously like a "Baby Slingshot".

@nato0519: I agree. Crystal Pepsi was tasty and refreshing.

I'm surprised rappers haven't completely resurrected the illuminated tires. The Shower Hood photo just makes me have nightmares. That woman's expression is so creepy, and combined with the graininess of the photo, uggggh. Scary. The Dog Restrainer just made me laugh really, really hard. It reminds me of those plastic claws that you can find in every cheap souvenir shop.

Mmmm you can still find people selling Crystal Pepsi on ebay at times!

@roche: and clear!

@nato0519: Amen. Second best soda ever. Well, third best. After sugar-based Dr. Pepper and Dr. Slice.

@roche:

You can enjoy an almost identical taste and refreshment by drinking caffeine-free Pepsi.

@nato0519: Amen. Maybe I'm a minority but I liked Crystal Pepsi.

@TechnoDestructo: Ahh see magic words almost identical taste. I also won't get the assurance that I'm drinking something that's clear. That's the experience I'm after but without that Sprite or Sierra Mist taste.

I read the headline at first as "dumb inventions from the Mid-1990s"

@lankysob:

[www.babysmasher.com]

A lot of these aren't dumb at all. Why are flying platforms and rocket belts dumb? They didn't end up working out, but they are not dumb at all.

The idea behind the Baby Cage might not be a good one, but good god damn look at how bad the execution is.

If that cage is even the slightest bit loose, a baby could squeeze through that gap on the side. Also, how is it fastened to the window? Anything less than having it attached firmly (preferably WELDED) to a frame which fits inside the window and which cannot fit through the window is insane.

@TechnoDestructo: Combine the Baby Slingshot with the Baby Smasher for a faster, more efficient, compartmentalized death method.

@pecan 3.14159265:
Dude,
I would so buy illuminated tires, and I am not even a rapper...yet.

The Rainy Day Cigarette Holder looks like something Wile E. Coyote would have ordered from Acme. Too funny!

@TechnoDestructo: That thing just sends shivers up my spine, regardless of how well it may or may not be made. Uhhhhghhhgghh...

@ubermex: Yeh most of these aren't dumb at all. I'm thinking Time Magazine should have a picture of themselves on there.

@pecan 3.14159265:

Those tires are AWESOME. I'd put them on my crapmobile anytime. They're too weird not to.

@wchamilton: I thought it tasted like steak sauce.

@semidazed: And I suspect the cigarette holder built for two was actually meant for a Mary Jane.

I have no idea what the point of a full pack holder is though

The mini-TV definitely lives on, e.g. as the Casio TV which you can still get. In addition, of course, to iPods, Zunes, and what-have-you.

And didn't the quick-draw robot live on as Yul Brynner in Westworld? Oh wait, that was only a movie ... never mind.

Animal-control poles have, in fact, not really died out as an invention ... as with mini-TVs, they live on in different forms. Ditto for the open roasting ovens, though the only ones I can find are dedicated to baking pizza, not turkeys.

On the other hand, as for the sea-shoes, even the Mythbusters couldn't get something like that to work:

@nato0519: Went great with a side of potatoes and Crystal Gravy!

@nato0519: I've never had Crystal Pepsi! I kind of want to try it. It came out when I was 8, and wasn't allowed to drink soda a lot.

@thanq:

Yeah, many of these items have seen lots of re-invention over the years, and some popularity.

Nobody here has ever seen a mini-TV? Not even once seen one of those 2.3" LCD TVs that Radio Shack sold?

HMDs exist plenty enough (I own serial #0013 of a set of Olympus Eyetreks!). Sure, they don't have giant antennas sticking out of them, but you can blame the technology of the time for that. Also on that idea, there's the Virtual Boy.

The smoking gadgets would be more for fun and only don't exist now because smoking is a taboo. If that didn't happen some of them would have been seen some sort of fad.

The cup bra idea sort of still exists, I'm told.

The motorized surfboard looks like a small pontoon boat, which are still made and are plenty enough popular.

I'd be interested in trying out the external turkey roaster, too, if just for the novelty of it.

A couple of them are funny (the cigarette holders), buta lot of them being used in different ways today. The turkey roaster? Look at the NuWave oven (I was watching TV yesterday). The repeatled mentioned TV in this thread? The repeatedly mentioned Nano/iPod Video/Touch. The TV glasses? I've seen those personal viewers in the SkyMall catalog. The beating breast? Those heartbeat toys for kids (and the one monitor that plays a lullaby if it detects the baby making a noise) are the same thing, just not shaped as conservatively.

Give me some time and I could likely find something to mimic or derive from each of the 30 things.

@donnie5: I like them too, though I'd imagine there would be some issues in extreme weather.

"It's always easy to question the wisdom of giving a robot a gun, but also making him quick on the draw is just irresponsible."

So true, Life Magazine. So true.

I would buy Crystal Pepsi by the case if it was brought back.

@thanq: I'm disappointed that you would choose to link to a Neo-Nazi website.

@nbs2: Oh man, I forgot all about Slice. MMMMMM

@thanq: You actually linked to stormfront? Ye gads!

@twophrasebark: Good point. Maybe the issue was just portability. No reason to stare at a 2inch tv when you're already in your living room. Then again I do that with Youtube on my iPhone so maybe the real issue is waiting for a generation lazy enough to label this as a convenience?

The Finnish Portable Sauna... didn't you just have something posted here the other day about a Sunggie Sauna? (Or are my dreams, once again, much too realistic?)

" The cigarette pack holder sends 20 times the nicotine goodness straight to your q-zone for maximum enjoyment."
"You've come a long way baby"
Now say it with a 1950's TV announcer voice.

@shepd: I remember the fan for tiny TVs. They were sort of the chic techno-toy to have for quite a while. The reception always sucked, though, so there wasn't really much point except to show off that you had one.

@Orv: fad, that should be.

@changed my name: I finally get it, that's why Micheal Jackson held his baby out the window he was looking for a baby cage.

@ubermex: To understand why flying platforms and rocket belts are dumb, consider what happens in the not-so-unlikely event of an engine failure.

@PsiCop: None of the sites at that link actually still have the TV. I think the HDTV transition killed off most of these small TVs, since they'd now have to have an HD decoder in them.

@Karita: Yes, there was a post about the Snuggie Sauna. And it was mentioned again in this post.

@nato0519: Agreed. I absolutely LOVED Crystal Pepsi!!

@nato0519: Amen! When I was in college, Crystal Pepsi + Malibu was my go-to poison.

@cmdrsass: I'm glad I didn't click on the link!

@TechnoDestructo: that is so wrong...I lol'ed though

@Orv: @ubermex: Yeah, apparently these amateur inventors didn't factor a little thing called physics. Gravity was a pretty much proven thing, even back in the 30s.