Michael B. Sauter, Evan Comen, Thomas C. Frohlich and Samuel Stebbins 24/7 Wall Street Published 12:15 p.m. UTC Jul 11, 2018 Some product launches can be spectacular failures, and Google Glass, an eyeglasses shaped head-mounted device with smartphone capabilities, failed in such a manner several years ago. It was meant to be the first piece of technology to connect the typical consumer to augmented reality. Google continues to attempt to find a place for the product, but its original launch was a definitive failure. In 2017, the internet giant announced the relaunch of the device to target to businesses rather than the general public, but whatever happens, it will be adopted by a meaningfully narrower audience. Just like success, failure is part of doing business. Entrepreneurs and large companies often take big risks, hoping for success but not always achieving it. These failures take many different forms. When a product doesn’t sell, when it is recalled or discontinued, … [Read more...] about Historic blunders: 50 worst product flops of all time
Leftovers season 2 episode 8
Why Andrew Lincoln’s departure is a death knell for The Walking Dead
Nobody could have anticipated the phenomenon The Walking Dead would become when it aired its modest six-episode debut back in 2010. Eight years on and it's spawned just as many seasons with a ninth (and counting) to come filled with characters up there in the cultural familiarity stakes alongside those from Game of Thrones, Lost and Breaking Bad. Today (30 May) saw the bombshell news that its lead star Andrew Lincoln will be phased out of the show during the next season. Quite how this will occur remains to be seen, but he'll appear in just six of the run's 16 episodes with Norman Reedus' fan favourite Daryl Dixon promoted to main character duties in his absence. This news is a lot for fans to take in and simply put, should spell the end of the AMC zombie series. Full disclosure: I am a loyal follower of The Walking Dead who has been slightly disconcerted by the series' recent evolution into a punching bag for … [Read more...] about Why Andrew Lincoln’s departure is a death knell for The Walking Dead
Lost, 8 years on: The alternative series ending writers almost used
The ending of Lost could well be the most widely misunderstood series finale in television history, but it almost drew to an altogether more volcanic close. Remember that flashback which sees Ben being taught about the island's volcano as a youngster by the Dharma Initiative? Probably not. It occurs in third season episode 'The Man Behind the Curtain' and it's now emerged it was “one of the first hints of an endgame." Showrunners Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse spoke to EW about the scrapped plans last year. The story goes that Cuse - very much the duo's big-dreamer - got the idea of including a volcano at the end of the series after visiting Hawaii's Big Island with his family, and later envisioned it being home to the climactic showdown between Jack (Matthew Fox) and the smoke monster, incarnated as John Locke (Terry O'Quinn). Read more The creator of Lost still stands by his controversial final episode “We were always looking to cannibalise anything on Hawaii … [Read more...] about Lost, 8 years on: The alternative series ending writers almost used
Lost, 8 years on: Co-creator Damon Lindelof stands by controversial final episode
The last ever episode of US drama Lost may have gone down in television history as one of the most audience-splitting series finales of all time, but co-creator and showrunner Damon Lindelof remains loyal to its ending. Upon airing in 2010, the finale sparked anger from many fans who had stuck with the series throughout its six seasons, frustrated with the writers' refusal to answer some of the show's most burning questions (something which has consequently misguided many people's views over what actually went down - no, they were not dead the entire time). Lindelof, whose most recent project - HBO series The Leftovers - drew to a close with one of the most critically-acclaimed seasons of the past year, reflected upon the legacy of Lost in a tell-all interview with The Independent in 2017. Read more The ending of Lost was almost extremely different Upon being asked what he had learned about his tumultuous experiences ending such a … [Read more...] about Lost, 8 years on: Co-creator Damon Lindelof stands by controversial final episode